Hi guys,

Lately it seems that people are getting killed close to home.  Where I grew 
up, we have catholic neighbors whose last name is Blacks, so I'll call them 
the Blacks.  This couple had a grandson named Blaze.  I think I held him 
when he was a baby, maybe about 25 years ago, and he was my nephew's best 
friend for awhile, I think when they were kids, and we once took him along 
somewhere.  This month, Blaze was working at their family-owned alternative 
fuel plant, maybe biodiesel.  there was an explosion, and he was killed.  I 
don't know if he and his family believed in the true way of salvation.

I don't know where this next event happened, or if it happened before or 
after Blaze's death.  A boy was driving tractor, and he ran over his sister. 
My mom noticed that the paper didn't say that he did it, which we think is a 
good thing, because who can imagine what terrible guilt and shame this young 
man or child is experiencing right now.  We must pray for him!  I don't know 
if these children are saved either.

I believe this next one happened just this past Friday.  We had seventh Day 
Adventist neighbors, the Johnsons.  The wife died, maybe one or two years 
ago, of cancer, but it seemed that she was strong enough to live longer, 
having been able to walk not long before her death.  Now her husband, in his 
eighties, was driving along Friday morning, when he ran into a tree. 
According to the coroner's investigation, he was killed on impact.  My 
brother passed the scene of the accident, and saw the damage and the 
ambulance.  I'm not sure if anyone knows yet why he hit the tree.  One 
possibility was that he couldn't see well.  I do believe that both he and 
his wife are saved.

I've often observed that when one person dies, at least one or more others 
die soon after.  I think we'll be more ready if we learn to be eternally 
minded and remember that everything in this world will be destroyed, except 
for God and His Word.

On a slightly lighter note, my birthday's coming up this Tuesday.  I'll be 
41 years old, about as old as my mother was when she gave birth to me!  Have 
you ever heard this birthday song, taught to me by one of my sisters?

Happy birthday,
Happy birthday;
Sickness, sorrow and despair,
People dying everywhere...
Happy birthday,
Happy birthday.

And, hey, I wouldn't mind if these people took the chance of being buried in 
the Holy Land!  hehehehehehehe!

Sharon