Tag Archives: Sad

In memory – Sandra Cantu

April 7, 2009 6:52 am / 2 Comments /

A little over a week ago a news story broke in which an eight year old girl had gone missing in Tracy, California. Sandra Cantu, the eight year old girl, was last seen leaving a friends house and walking back to her home in a trailer park in Tracy. She was not seen after that.

Within four hours the missing persons report was filed and the police began investigating. The media began to report it and the community rallied around her and became hopeful that she would be found. It was a touching story and one that served to bring awareness to all families that no matter where you live you need to teach your children how to defend themselves, who to trust and what to do in situations that could result in their harm, abduction or worst of all, their death.

Well yesterday the worst of all possible scenarios was broadcast all over the central valley and bay area. Sandra Cantu, the eight year old girl who had gone missing just 10 days ago, was found dead in a suitcase in an irrigation pond on a farm just two miles away from Sandra Cantu’s home.

As the father of five kids, four of whom are daughters and one of whom is eight, I was rattled by the news. Entirely too many children die each year for the stupidest of reasons. It sickens me and angers me when I hear that any kid has been violated in any way. Even worse is hearing about kids whose lives have been snuffed out because of someone with a penchant for causing harm to a child. I still get confused by acts like these, cowardly, selfish acts for which there is no logical explanation.

As a parent I feel it is my responsibility to make sure my kids are safe as much as possible. Doing that sometimes requires shock and awe tactics. Like relating to my kids that at any time, anyone that seeks to do them harm could very well present themselves in a way that appeals to my kids. My wife and I train up our children as best we can. And sometimes the best course of action is to let them in to stories like that of Sandra Cantu.

If you have kids I hope you take the time tonight to tell them just how much you love them. Make it a point to discuss this case with them and the importance of not trusting anyone they don’t know. And make sure you take some time to pray for the family of Sandra Cantu. I cannot even imagine what they must be going through right now

Posted in: On Children, On Family, On Fatherhood, Personal Messages, Rants / Tagged: , , ,

When Christians go crazy

March 8, 2009 7:32 pm / Leave a Comment /

This morning at church my pastor told us of a story about a pastor in Illinois that was shot dead in front of his entire congregation this morning. Very little news was offered about this at the time but more information surfaced later that has brought about a little more information:

Investigators have charged a 27-year-old man with first-degree murder in the shooting of a pastor at a church in Maryville, Illinois, authorities said Monday.

…

Fred Winters, the pastor of the First Baptist Church, was shot and killed during an 8 a.m. service Sunday, and the attacker and two members of the congregation suffered knife wounds in the attack, authorities said.

Incidents like these are very difficult for me to wrap my mind around. I know that times get tough. I know some people have mental issues which would make something like this make sense to them. But I still get so flabbergasted by things like this because they make absolutely no sense to me at all.

Truth is I don’t want to understand this. My heart goes out to the minister’s family, those that were hurt directly by the incident and those that were affected both directly and indirectly by the incident. For those Christians out there that might be reading this, this is not a call to hole yourself up in your home and stop going to church. This is indeed an opportunity for you to put your faith into practice and step boldly into the throneroom of you God. Fear cannot be allowed to take hold of anyone in this.

I would ask that you join me in praying for that church, the pastor’s family, the suspect, his family and everyone else that this has hit.

Posted in: Church, Observations, On Christianity, On Faith, Personal Messages, Rants / Tagged: , , ,

Remembering Steve Shephard

October 12, 2008 12:33 pm / Leave a Comment /

Yesterday I spent some time with the folks at work visiting the home and family of Steven Shephard, my coworker that past away earlier this week. It was a touching time, and a time that gave me even more perspective.

I found out things about my coworker that I had never knew before. Like he was an avid sports fan. And he loved to play the guitar. I knew he was into boating, but I had never known about his love of sports and guitar. I worked with him for a year and never knew these things about him.

I wonder how many other people we interact with regularly whose lives we never bother to look into. This can be looked at from both positive and negative viewpoints in that there are probably some people with whom we have regular contact that we might have facets of their lives that really should not mix with yours. Then again there are people with whom you have regular interaction whose lives you might not know anything about but that happen to live very interesting lives that would surely enrich your life should the opportunity arise to commingle with that person.

So I am somewhat saddened that I did not take the time to learn more about Steve. I should have. And I will for sure take some time to learn more about my coworkers from now on. I spend the better part of my day with them. I should know who I am working with.

Steve’s family is awesome by the way. I met his wife, his brother-in-law and several other members of his family. They are a great bunch. And I am sure they are going to miss Steve terribly. So will all of us at work.

Posted in: General / Tagged: , ,

In memory of Stephen Shepard

October 8, 2008 12:40 pm / Leave a Comment /

I found out earlier today that a coworker of mine, Stephen Shepard, passed away earlier this morning. He was 54 years old.

A few weeks ago I posted that I was not feeling well. On that same day Steve was not feeling well and had decided to work from home. A few days later I came back to work, dragassing as usual after not feeling well to find out that Steve was in the hospital.

I am not going to go into any details here because I think that would not be in the interest of Steve’s family. Needless to say, he went into ICU on that day. He was showing signs of improvement, albeit minor signs, and was schedule to be transferred from hospital he was in to another hospital. That transfer took place this morning.

And shortly after that Steve died.

It was a rather shocking piece of news to get today. It was shocking enough to find out that he was in the hospital a few weeks ago, but to find out that he passed away after hearing that he was doing better floored my entire department at work. It is a hard thing to have to go through.

My heart goes out to his wife and kids. They were all able to spend his last days with him which is something that I would certainly be grateful for. I am still just reeling a little bit from the entire experience. I know how hard it is to lose a loved one at such a young age. Makes me want to go home and hug my kids really big.

Posted in: General / Tagged: , , ,