When Tragedy Strikes...Pray

I know there are some of you who saw the title to this post and had to have assumed it was going to be about my Redskins losing to the daggum Eagles.  Trust me, there was some major praying after the horrific event that was today's game.  I really wish things had gone another way, but this post is of a much more serious nature.

I don't know if you guys saw this in the news today, but I felt compelled to share.  I may be a girl who loves to watch a lot of different things on television, though racing is not one of them.  But, I am a girl who has experienced the death of someone very close to me because of a car accident and in a very unfortunate series of events, another family is having to deal with that situation on this very day.


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Today, during his "normal" workday in an Indy car race in Las Vegas, 33-year-old British driver Dan Wheldon was involved in a 15-car pileup that ultimately resulted in his passing.  In the video clip above, Dan's car was the one that went airborne.  He is survived by an industry and all of his colleagues, as well as his wife, Susie, and his two sons - Sebastian (2) and Oliver (7 months).  It will indefinitely be a very difficult road for all of them, especially since it was an accident that occurred on television and will most certainly be replayed hundreds of times in the coming weeks.

This tragedy had not yet happened when I left church this morning, but being as this is a Sunday and faith is needed when times are hard, I felt it might be good to ask for a massive prayer request for this family.  I ask each of you to include them in your prayer list as their hearts and minds are full of sorrow and grief today.  I hope the video clip inspires you to dig down deep and hug the ones close to you - you never know when a normal day could go horribly wrong.

In the spirit of faith, here is a Song of Sunday to get your minds right for the coming week - it definitely did that for me today, and it was the first time we sang this at our church.  I was very impressed with the message and felt it was ultimately fitting after today's events.

Here is "Never Once" by Matt Redman.


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Until next time,

Songs of Sunday - Special Edition

9/11 - We will never forget...

I still remember where I was ten years ago today.  I was a high school student standing in the student lounge of our local community college with my friends in Governor's School.  We were huddled together watching the tragic events of the morning unfolding on the televisions there.  We stood in silence - in disbelief - most of us with our hands on our heads or on our mouths.  The horror pumped through all of our veins as our heart rates increased with each passing moment.

With those memories in mind, it was appropriate that the ten year anniversary of 9/11 fell on a Sunday.  In church today, we had a wonderful tribute and we lifted the victims' families and friends up in prayer together and individually.  We sang songs about reaching out to complete strangers because Christ's compassion doesn't play favorites - about expanding our scopes to include all the people of the world as our neighbors.

I've been pretty busy the past week, but I wanted to share a couple of the songs that we sang in church today to get your week started off right.

Matthew West - My Own Little World

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Matt Redman - We Could Change The World

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It's been an amazing albeit bittersweet day for me - Comanche and I have been hanging out with friends watching football (my Redskins and his Cowboys - I know, it's insanity), eating steaks we grilled, and having fellowship with our church family.  We know how lucky we are and therefore, we must continue to be mindful of those folks who are hurting today.  If you can spare five minutes, lift them up, everyone!  It'll be worth it!

Until next time,

Pray For These Tragedy Victims

I went back and forth over whether to show this video or not, but I wanted to give you a visual if you've not yet seen it in order to further the tenacity of your prayers for the victims and families of the victims of this horrific accident! {WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS VERY HARD TO WATCH.}

I'm not sure if you've heard of this yet, but tragedy struck the Sugarland concert at the Indiana State Fair this weekend when 60mph winds took down the stage, killing at least four people and injuring at least forty others.  I ask you to put these people on your prayer lists and to lift them up.


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Heavenly Father, please hold each and every person affected by this horrific accident in Your hands and lift them up during this very difficult time.  In Your Name, I pray.  Amen.

Until next time,

My Thank You Note to God

Dear God,

Being as this time of year always makes me feel closest to You, I thought I would write You a Thank You note.  If there is anyone more deserving of this type of correspondence, I genuinely have no clue who it would be.  Here goes nothing.

Thank You for the GORGEOUS display of changing leaves this year!  I thoroughly enjoyed every drive I took this fall because of the incredible colors.  I especially appreciated the amazingly vibrant colored skies You threw in as an added bonus.  Thank You for my family, my friends, my jobs, my furbabies, and for the little rented space I call home.  Thank You for my health.

Thank You for leading me into a new church that has honestly felt personal to me each Sunday.  It's always refreshing when the sermon feels like it was written just for you, and I know I wasn't the only member of the congregation who felt that way.  I'd been on the hunt for a new church to revive my structured relationship with You, and I feel much happier now that I've tried new places.

Thank You for helping me overcome obstacles this year, even when I questioned whether my strength would be able to sustain me in some of those instances.  (I later came to the realization that it didn't matter if I had strength left because You would always sustain me).  Thank You for answering some of my prayers, and for purposely ignoring other requests that I know I prayed entirely too hard for.  Thank You for educating me that it's not my place to try to force something I want, but that it's so much sweeter when I simply relax and let the plans You have for me play out.

Thank You for welcoming my darling Papa into your Kingdom of Heaven.  I should also thank You for being there for all of us as we embarked upon the journeys that are Alzheimer's disease and cancer.  It was very taxing at times, and no matter how dark things became, You never failed us.  Thank You for letting him pass on so peacefully after enduring so very much while fighting to live.  This will be our first holiday season without Papa, Lord, so I will again ask You to be there for us and look over us as I know this will be tough.  Thank You for welcoming my wonderful Uncle Deano into Heaven, as well.  Our family lost some of its best men, but I know they will have the most wonderful Thanksgiving of all at Your table, Lord.

Thank You for teaching my family resilience, once again.  We need to be reminded how to face fear and death and hard times, and the only way to be reminded is to go through them once again.  Although I doubt anyone would ever volunteer to go through those things, I have come to learn in hindsight that these experiences are more blessings from You in that they cause us to learn.

Thank You for making me into the woman I am today.  I know that every decision I've ever made has not been without Your watchful eye, and I know that I would not have been ready to receive the blessings You've bestowed upon me without Your continual grooming.  Thank You for the tests You put me through, and the supposed "failures" I faced.  Thank You for encouraging me to push on when I had "decided" I'd had enough.  Thank You for laughing at me when I made plans, and for reminding me that there is only one plan I should be worried about - Yours.

Finally, thank You for the newest blessing in my life.  I call him Comanche around here.  Thank You for showing me that all my struggles were worth it.  Thank You for believing I was ready for something really grand.  Thank You for opening up the "Big Picture" for me and for letting me in on the secret.  Thank You for the genuinely happy feeling I get every time he takes hold of my hand, and for the smile that has consistently been on my face since the first day I met him.  Thank You for this incredible gift - I really don't know how to say thanks enough for that.

P.S. - Happy Thanksgiving, Lord!


Your Servant,