Month: October 2017

Stories Worth Telling

Posted on by Wendy
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:5

On October 1st, in Las Vegas, the largest mass shooting in U.S. history took place. Before the dust even settled, the politics started, ranging from some hateful words uttered by a lawyer at CBS, to immediate calls for gun control. There was also the mass media’s obsession with the why.

But, I don’t think that’s the most important story here. In a horrific shooting where 58 innocent people were ruthlessly killed and over 500 were injured, the accounts of the beautiful side of humanity are seemingly endless.

There is story after story of people risking their own lives to save others. There was a teenage girl who was shot in the leg and could not run. A stranger hoisted her over his shoulder and ran with her. He put her in a cab and she was taken to the hospital.

There was a firefighter from Seattle who went back into the crossfire over and over to lead people to safety. There was an IT guy who helped people over a fence and then directed people to triage for hours. He said he didn’t know how he did it. He had no training, but adrenaline took over, or was it something else?

There was a retired Marine who stole a truck to drive two loads of people to the hospital. There were also countless civilians who took bleeding strangers in their personal vehicles to the hospital. They just simply stopped and opened their doors.

There was a man in the Army Reserve who passed by an injured man lying in the back of a truck with a tourniquet on his leg. It was in the wrong place. He adjusted it and saved his life. Another man, when asked by a stranger, literally gave the shirt off of his back to be used as a wound dressing.

Then there were those who gave their own lives to save their loved ones. Many used their bodies as shields.

The next morning, when the sun came up, the citizens of Las Vegas stood in lines all over town to give their own blood for the victims who were complete strangers. One line stretched for blocks. Then there were the donated supplies, money, bottled water and blankets, so much so, that they stopped taking donations.

The firefighter from Seattle said the words that I have been unable to forget, “We all became one that night. I got to see one person at their worst, but I got to see humanity at its best.”

This is a tragedy that America will never forget. I pray that we also never forget the stories of ordinary people who became heroes at a moment’s notice when faced with the unthinkable.

They remind me of the people who have always made our country great. They remind me of who we are all called to be. They remind me of what unity looks like. They give me hope. They make me proud to be an American.

Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

A Call to Walk

Posted on by Wendy
Sometimes we are called to walk.

I injured my back a couple of weeks ago doing yard work. I’m not exactly sure what I did, but it really hurt. For the next week, I took a ton of ibuprofen and kept a heating pad on it. I wasn’t able to exercise at all.

After about ten days, I was feeling better, not completely healed, but better. I reasoned that I should be able to walk. I’ve read that walking is supposed to be good for just about anything that ails us. As I put on my tennis shoes and stretched a little, I promised myself that I would not run.

It was a beautiful day outside. The heat had finally broken and there was a breeze. I felt grateful to be outside and to be moving. As I got warmed up, I reached the first mailbox where I usually start my first sprint. It’s at the top of a hill and I really had to force myself not to run.

I found that to be the case all through my walk. I suppose when you live in the same place for twelve years and you walk on the same path, you form habits. Some are good and some are bad. Some are good for a particular season and not so good for other seasons.

I felt the urge to run because I always had. But, I knew, that if I ran at this point, I could re-injure my back and go back to all of that pain. Still, I found the self-control to be a struggle.

I thought about that walk long after I was finished and the deeper lesson that I knew God was trying to teach me.

There are times in our lives that God wants us to slow down. Sometimes we know the reason. We could be coming through a season of constantly being busy. We could be coming through a season of sickness, or grief, or change, or maybe even growth.

Sometimes we don’t know the reason. We find ourselves praying fervently for movement, but nothing seems to happen.

The key is remembering that although we may not know why we are being called to walk and not run, God knows. He has a reason and His timing is always impeccable, even when we don’t understand. That’s what we call trust and obedience.

A walk reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Wisdom of Youth

Posted on by Wendy
One nation under God

Last week was just one of those weeks. You know the ones, the ones where you are just slammed at work and you just never seem to get a minute to breathe? I wasn’t feeling well physically either, which didn’t help matters.

Besides all of that, every time I logged onto Facebook for a little diversion, I was assaulted by opinions on NFL players and their treatment of the National Anthem and the American Flag.

The entire ordeal is mind boggling to me. Sports, any kind, is one of those forces that has the ability to unite people of all colors, classes and political convictions. It doesn’t matter who I have ever sat next to at any sporting event, if we are cheering for the same team, we are friends. It’s the same way at the concession stand or even in the bathroom for that matter.

So what happened?

Last season, one NFL player elected not to stand for the National Anthem. Some media outlet chose to give that guy the spotlight. The other media outlets jumped in. Chaos, division and anarchy sells. I could point out that there’s another dark force that thrives on chaos, division and anarchy.

So this season, the entire NFL jumped into the Anthem fray along with all of the mass media, and social media went wild.

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to get people to turn on each other. Who do you think enjoys that the most?

When I think back to the photos of the firemen hoisting that flag from the ashes of the World Trade Center and how it offered a glimmer of hope to an entire nation, I can’t imagine not standing for it.

After Hurricane Irma, police officers in Savannah saved a flag from the marsh and hoisted it back up. The picture was put on social media and was viewed 54,000 times. The flag gives us hope. When we recite the pledge, we stand and we are reminded that we are one nation under God, protected by God and blessed by God. Is the problem perhaps, that we are failing at the under God part and that, that failure is leading to all of this division?

Thankfully, last Friday night, I was treated to a snapshot of hope. Our high school football team was playing its rival from across town. The two bands from the opposing teams came together and played the National Anthem. EVERYONE stood on both sides. The flag and the anthem united us as it always has.

I fought tears as I gave a silent prayer of thanks for small town America and the values that it holds dear. As if that wasn’t enough, when our team came running onto the field breaking through their banner, a player was carrying the flag, waving it proudly. The crowd went wild. He ran for a few extra loops before sticking it in the ground.

I think the Bible said something about a child leading the way. This child got it right and these are the stories we should share. Perhaps you needed a little hope today too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂