In Memory

Natalie Brooks     Britthany Varner
Paige Herring     Stephanie Johnson
Shannon Wright

As a (now former) resident of Jonesboro, Arkansas, I want to ask everyone who reads this to pray for the victims of the March 1998 shooting. Though I didn't directly know anyone involved, we were all touched by this tragedy. My boss's niece was shot (in the leg, I think). Both teachers were members of the Bono Church of Christ, where my aunt's family attends. The same aunt works at the Westside High School library and has two grandchildren at the kindergarten there. A co-worker's daughter also attends there.  Paige's grandmother (maybe great-grandmother) attended church where my dad preaches.

Please, especially pray for those youngsters who had to witness this horrible event. Give your own children big hugs, and let them know you love them and that they can talk to you about anything, any time. Take them seriously. Love this life, and prepare for the next. You never know what day will be your last.

For more information on how you can help:  Westside Fund  Memorial for Westside School Victims Jonesboro Sun

Permit the children to come to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Mark 9:14b
Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence. Psalm 42:5

A PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN

  We pray for the Children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.
  And we pray for those
who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
who never "counted potatoes,"
who are born in places where we wouldn't be caught dead,
who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.
  We pray for children
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
  And we pray for those
who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can't find any bread to steal,
who don't have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
whose monsters are real.
  We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories, who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
who never rinse out the tub,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
whose smiles can make us cry.
  And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren't spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.
  We pray for children
who want to be carried and for those who must,
who we never give up on
and for those who don't get a second chance.
  For those we smother and . . .
for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer it

Back to Jalynka's Home


Get your free home page!