An Open Letter;

To Walter Koenig and the rest of the family of Andrew Koenig:

We offer up to you all our prayers at this time. We do know how much this hurts, but no two situations are ever the same.

No one should have to bury their own children. No one should have to outlive their own children.

But, somehow, things happen and our children make poor choices. What ever we have taught them, we would never want them to feel like we will be making all their decisions for them for the rest of their lives.

So, we let go. That is the first heartbreak. Our children go away to college. They get married. They get jobs out-of-town. And each time they leave us, they leave a little bit of a hole in us.

When a child takes his own life, we know it is final. There will be no visits for Christmas. There will be no vacations together. Everything will have changed. Forever.

We cry. We mourn. We grieve “right out loud.” And we think it will never get any better for us. And it may or it may not. There is a time factor, and our overall response to tragedy which factor into this.

I – we, my wife and I – know what it is to lose a son to suicide. Our son took his own life on June 22, 2009. He had been suffering for years with physical, emotional, and spiritual pain. He was a 13-year Coast Guard petty officer. This had been his love. All the above, plus Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, contributed to a severe depression which caused him to make a wrong decision and to take his own life.

We will always miss our Charlie. Even the good memories of him will always be bittersweet.

But there is healing! God, however you perceive Him, will be with you just as He is with your Andrew at this very moment. I want you to know … I want all of you to know … that God knows our hurts, and heals them. Remember, He lost His only Son, too.

Blessings to you all.
Wayne
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Not What I’d Hoped For

My original hope with this blog was that I could create a number of pages, each with different topics. After much go ’round with the customer service folks, I found that additional pages can’t have comments added to the posts. So, wanting that ability, I was informed that I would have to have a widget listing the different categories I’ve place each posting in.

Be sure and check  the list in the margin of each page. It will make your comments easier to add to the correct discussions.  Just one more step in the learning curve for me.

(I just need to keep up to date on any changes that are made.)

Blessings
Wayne
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Still working with this

I was having some trouble trying to do the impossible. Live and learn “they” say. Well, I did! So, now I am doing something a little differently than I had originally planned. Wasn’t it the Scottish poet Robert Burns who said, The best laid plans of mice and men/ ‘gang aft aglee?

I’m “getting ready” to go to a meeting tonight. Actually, I’m sitting at my desk waiting for a call from downstairs letting me know my ride is here. I hate having to be dependant on someone else! (Maybe “hate” is too strong a word, but I surely don’t like it!)

I’m not looking forward to this weekend, either. The gardening/ yard work  is being delayed due to rain. We keep getting it, and the Winter Olympics can’t get enough of it. “Go figure!” So … there will be other things that “need doing” and can’t wait.

I am also getting ready to retire in July, so we are up to our ___ in paperwork to make that happen. Actually, we’ve hardly begun, and it’s beginning to overwhelm me. My wife says retirement will “cure” all that. Sure hope she’s right!

I seem to be rambling, so excuse me if I don’t seem to hold a thought very long. It’s too much like work.

So, for now I will just wish you a long, stress-less weekend and the end of another month. Yes … it’s nearly March, already.

Blessings,
Wayne
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A godly economy?

An oxymoron? I don’t really think so! It’s hard to believe – right now – that God is in any part of this economy. For so many folks losing their jobs, their homes, and their self-esteem, it just doesn’t look like it could be in God’s will.

Nevertheless, God made all humankind to make creative choices. Sometimes we listen to Him and make good choices, other times, like the children we are, we make poor choices which affect everyone around us.

“Consider the lilies of the field … and the birds of the air.” God has continually cared for them and provided for them just what they needed! Not necessarily what they desired, but what He knew they really needed.

When we seek His will, He doesn’t always say “yes.” He’s God. He’s free to say “no,”  or even to say “this isn’t the right time.” But we want what we ask for when we want it. and we don’t ask for it until we want it now!

Our economies stretch beyond what we have – or don’t have – in our wallets at any one time. Our economies are all the choices we make and how they affect us and others. God wants us to utilize that freewill and, hopefully, make good choices. This doesn’t always happy.

Due to a series of events of a number of years, our son took his own life on June 22 this past year. It was a bad choice. We ask how God He could let this happen But, God allowed our Charlie to commit suicide in order to get rid of a lot of physical, emotional, and spiritual pain.

We are all grieving in our own ways. Probably his mother the most. I had a vision, early on, of him in Jesus’ presence, patting himself down, and saying, “It doesn’t hurt here any more, it doesn’t here anymore. Even my brain doesn’t hurt.” This knowledge that he is in God’s presence has/ is helping me through this time of grief.

Blessings and Peace to you all.
Wayne <><

Another ‘nother Day

I try not to miss a day, but that’s probably not wise. I’m usually at the computer late at night, or even worse, trying to fill in a few minutes before I catch my ride home. (I’m usually the last one on the van!)

So … it being 3:57 p.m., PDT, I need to cut this really short and just wish you all the best for a Thursday (already?) evening, a great Friday, and a restful weekend; however that looks to you.

Blessings,
Wayne
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