Rachel's Vineyard dates for May

ATTENTION OKLAHOMA VOTERS!!!!

Well, let's see.....how did I do today?

I'm offering sacrifices for my Uncle Mike's soul.  Trying to keep from over eating and making bad food decisions!  Dad came into the office today to fax some papers up to CO so that he can get my uncle's remains.  His birthday was December 30th.  I never even knew my Godfather's birthday.  Thinking of that got me ready to make more sacrifices.  I think these little things are the work of the Holy Spirit, they help keep Uncle Mike in the front of my prayers.

I feel so sad for the Cho family.  Their silence was broken today by a sad apology.  I can't imagine the hell they are going through.  We so often forget that ripple effect of victims.  So many people hurt.  Including the Cho's.  That was their son.  Her brother.  A nephew.  A grandson.  At one point, this child was born and they all looked into his eyes full of life and hope.  Who could imagine?

I missed Adoration today.    Last week it was cancelled because of the weather.  Two weeks in a row.  I've been so busy at work.  I can't catch up.  It's so frustrating.  I want a job with less responsibilties...less hours.  But I love the people I work with and who I work for.   They are family.  But I have to remember that God has to come first...then MY family's needs must come after that.  The rest shouldn't come before.  I've been so good about getting out of there early on Fridays so I can go to Adoration.  Today I stumbled.  Well, I didn't know what to do.  I HAD to get some things done.  They had to be done today.  But I missed my time with Jesus...and like everyday...I missed my time with my family. 

I did get to see some little mini-plays that the 2nd graders did.  Not big productions, mind you.  Hold the script and talk into the microphone.  They are so cute!  After the plays, I took Gracie's bowling ball back to the bowling alley so they could drill holes in it.  And on the way back, I fully intended on getting a rootbeer float from A&W.  But the Lord made me look at the clock and realize I had to get back to work and didn't have the time to go get it!  If I were using my sacrifice beads today, they would have gone back and forth several times!

I still have to get ready for stamp club tomorrow.  I made four cards tonight.  I love the quiet thinking/praying time!

Here's my scripture reflection for today....

John 14:15-21

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth,  which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

How comforting that we will never be alone!

Thank you Jesus!!

Before I forget, here are a couple of my favorite rosary quotes:

`If families will but listen to my message and give our Lady ten minutes of their twenty-four hours, by reciting the daily Family Rosary, I assure them that their homes will become, by God's grace, peaceful, prayerful places . . . little heavens, which God the Author of home-life has intended they should be.' ~Father Patrick Peyton

Aren't we LUCKY!!     

Have a blessed weekend!

Who dropped the ball?

So many people are affected by the Virginia Tech shootings.  My heart and prayers go out to each and every one of them.  It’s so sad...so unnecessary.  Not God’s intention. 

The media, as expected, is all over this story.  Sensationalizing it at every turn, placing blame everywhere they can.  Who is responsible?   Cho Seung-Hui committed a horrific crime.  But why?  What were his motives?  What was he thinking?  What was he trying to convey to the students, the teachers, to us?  Who can we blame?  Well, Cho fired the weapons.  Yes, we can blame him....but he’s dead.  Where is the sensationalism in that?  Can we blame the person he bought the gun from?  They were purchased legally.  His friends?  Apparently he didn’t have any.  What about his teachers?  His roommates?  Some of them did try to get him some help...but what was his problem?  Was it too late?  Was he psychotic?   Was he depressed?  Was he anti-social?   Maybe he was schizophrenic?   Did he have personality disorders?  Anxiety?  OCD?  ADD?  Was he an abused child?  Tormented by bullies in childhood?  Sexually molested? 

We know so little about him.  Every interview:  He kept to himself.  He was quiet.  He was weird.  He never made eye contact.  He kept a hat low over his face.  Walked kind of hunched over.  Wrote weird plays.  Wrote strange riddles.  Text messaged people who didn’t know him. 

What rights did he have?  We keep hearing things like “He shouldn’t have been enrolled in the school.”  “He shouldn’t have been able to buy a gun.”  “He shouldn’t have been allowed to live on campus.” 

Why?

Because he was weird?

Where are his friends?  Is it not strange that he had no friends?  What do his parents think?  Did they know he was a ticking time bomb?  If they didn’t, why not?   What about his teachers?  We’ve heard that a couple of them did take issue with him.  But what about the others?  What about his High School teachers?  Middle School teachers?  Elementary school teachers?

When did it start?  He came to the United States of America when he was 8 years old.  Eight.  An 8-year old taken from his home to a place where he knew nobody.  Didn’t know the language.   He must have been in third grade or so.  Put into a school where he didn’t have any friends and couldn’t even communicate with them.  How did his teacher react?  How did his classmates react?  Did he already have a social issue before he came to the US?  Or did it start here?  Was it because nobody befriended him?  Nobody allowed him to place his trust in them?  Was there eye contact?  Physical contact?  A hand on a shoulder?  A hand to hold when he didn’t understand what the fire alarm was for?  Who was there to comfort this 8 year old? 

As he learned the new language and the new customs, did his family try to integrate the new found US customs into their lives?  Did they attempt to live as Americans?  Or did they simply live as S Koreans living in the US?  Did they talk to him about troubles at school?  Did they try to help him socially by putting him in scouts or church youth groups?   Did they have faith in God or something else and try to instill that into him?

He mentioned Jesus Christ in his “manifesto”, but as any believer would be able to tell you...he didn’t know anything about Jesus.  He wasn’t ‘crucified like Jesus Christ’.  He wasn’t a martyr.  Those Columbine kids were not martyrs.  Why did he think this way?

Most every question doesn’t have an answer.

Cho Seung-Hui was responsible for his own actions.  He knew the difference between right and wrong.  It wouldn’t have made a difference if there were cameras on campus.  If he was banned from buying a handgun, he would have caused some sort of devastation some other way.  Maybe more people would have been killed.  Maybe less.

We need to learn from this.  Teach from this.  Our children need to know that other children suffer.  New kids need to be treated with excitement and inclusion.  Teachers need to be able to express affection.  They need to be able to put a hand on a shoulder for comfort.  Receive a hug.  Give a blessing.  Children need to be told that it’s okay to feel sad sometimes.  To express fears.  They have a right to feel comfort.  Acceptance.  Love.  They have a right to feel safe.  Included.

I don’t know if this would have helped Cho.  But it sure seems like he lived his life as an underdog.

I AM NOT trying to paint him as a victim or justify any of his actions.  CHO SEUNG-HUI is responsible for this whole mess.  HE made the decision to purchase guns.  HE made the decision to plan all of this out.  HE refused help when it was offered.  HE will have to answer to that when he is judged by the Almighty. 

We ALL have been faced with injustice at times in our lives.   We will face them again.  And again.  WE make the decision on how to handle it.  We need to teach our children how to handle it as well.   

God’s peace and mercy be with all of us.  God have mercy on the souls of the victims of this horrific event.

Sign the guest book for the VT victims....

http://www.legacy.com/oklahoman/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonID=87298850

There isn't a lot most of us can do, but pray.  Visit the site above and put down your thoughts.  Feel free to list it on your blog and email it around.

Blessings....