Friday, November 18, 2011

Sadness, prayer & caution~


We had a taste of winter yesterday afternoon as snow flurries blew across Southeastern, Michigan. There was a lot of "Oh no!" heard here and there but I still find the sight of snow so peacefully beautiful I simply sat in my office and stared at the sky for a while.
It has been a difficult week for some of the staff and my heart hurts for them as they deal with loss.
A nurse's elderly mom passed away over the weekend. Not unexpected but still so hard.

A dear friend, Kevin, lost his dad this week. If you could pray for him and his family as they prepare for the funeral on Sunday, that would be appreciated. His dad had a stroke several years ago from which he recovered but had another severe stroke on Saturday and went home to Jesus on Wednesday evening.
Another friend got word on Monday that her 18 year old cousin had passed away in her dorm room over the weekend. It seems that the young lady had a seizure while her room mate was away for the weekend and was discovered when the room mate returned on Sunday afternoon. Of course, that family needs much prayer.
As a footnote to this terrible tragedy, I need to say a word about Facebook and recommend we all use it as a cautionary tale. This young lady passed away at a college two hours away from her mom's home. The college immediately sent a team to the home to inform the mom in person. In the meantime, the room mate began almost immediately facebooking her friend's death. You can imagine what happened. Mom found out her sweet daughter had passed on Facebook. The rest of the family found out the same way. These kids didn't mean any harm, they were communicating their sadness in the method their generation uses. But PLEASE be sure when you post on Facebook that the news you might need to share has already been appropriately shared with the people immediately impacted and PLEASE teach your kids to do the same. Our kids simply lack that internal monitor where communication is concerned, immediate sharing is too easy.
Have a blessed, safe and peaceful day.

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