I have SO many wonderful memories growing up in this country! Just think of July 4th cookouts, Christmas parades, making snow balls and watching our children make snow sleds out of pasteboard boxes. I also love visiting some wonderful local stores too, and then checking out farms in Henry County and their wagon rides, fall festivals, and the opportunity to pick strawberries or visit their animals. I love seeing the Performing Arts Center parking places fill completely as Henry County comes to watch the latest musical or beauty pageant. We have wonderful local papers too, and shops that can take care of our vehicles’ needs.  I’m very proud of our doctors and their staff, plus the awesome hospital we really appreciate. 

  Now, all this joy is spread out all over Georgia, and of course America too. We are a blessed people, we USA citizens. Sadly, we continue to see tragic shootings taking place on this beautiful soil. The ones who have anger they can’t control need help, lots of help. This is NOT the America I grew up in, and I am thinking of our pastor’s words again … I WANT AMERICA BACK! And the way to get her back is prayer, and love for one another. I pray every day that the next shooter is suddenly turned away from his anger and made to realize there is help –  all he has to do is look. Of course a pastor would be my first choice, but there are competent doctors who could find and cure the problem. What if a family member could take over the raging shooter and lead him to become calm and to love and not hate? Interesting that at one school where a disaster almost occurred, a staff member was able to calm the one with the gun and saved so many lives.

  So, if you saw someone come in with a gun, what would you do?  I’d be afraid, of course, but I hope I would let prayer take over and then let God take over the problem. Maybe  this would lead to making peace with the armed one. I still remember when we were being robbed and I heard the robbers pull the hammer back on their guns. As I stood there with my hands raised, I quietly asked the one aiming at me not to shoot me, that I had three little boys. Glad that our cleaning lady in the break room kicked the trash box into the next room at that moment and the three robbers decided it was time to leave. Whew! Well, I was able to speak my thoughts to them, and that did delay them just a moment. I wasn’t praying, but He still saved me!

  I saw a wonderful post recently on Facebook that is so true and what we all should repeat, over and over. “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Yes! That is the belief we should all live by, and lift up as we pray. I’m glad that I grew up around Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, dedicated pastors and my fellow Methodists. I appreciated my parents caring for everyone they knew, worked with, lived next to, and the three children they raised. I’ll bet they wouldn’t have hesitated for a second to try and make peace with an agitated gunman. My dad calmed an injured man with a slab of windshield stuck in his chest, as he rode in the back of the ambulance, holding the glass. I’m sure God told him what to say on the way to the hospital. Okay God, please heal our nation, and let it begin today. Prayers please!