Counting our Blessings! (Our Grandson made it through tragic shootings at his workplace!)

What a scare we had last Thursday when a gunman opened fire on a lawnmower factory where our grandson was working in Hesston, Kansas.  There were a couple hundred men and women in there doing their jobs, when one of their own, burst into the shop with guns and went on a rampage killing and wounding people as they frantically ran for their lives.  Our grandson heard the bullets flying past him and the guy behind him got shot in the leg as they were running. 

It was a call from our daughter that alerted us to the danger our 20 year old grandson was in.  She wanted to call us before we saw it on the news.  She quickly told us that her son had fled to a back part of the building with everyone else that was being told to run for safety because there was a shooter.  He called his mom and told her he was ok...but from where they were hiding, he had no idea if the shooter was still in there shooting, or if he had been brought down.  We turned on the news and held our breath as we watched the chaos on TV.  Then we started praying and begging God to help the police to capture the shooter so that our grandson, and all of the others would be safe.

The brave chief of police went in on his own and was fired upon, and as the bullet exchange went on, the shooter was hit, and killed.  It was quite awhile before everything was checked out, and figured out by the police as to whether there were anymore shooters etc., and eventually the wounded were taken to surrounding hospitals and medical centers...and some were taken there by helicopter.

I sat in a daze as we watched for several hours and heard the details of how this all came about.  (The man had shot people along the road and in the parking lot before he got inside the factory.)  People were telling the stories of what they saw and heard, and how people were lying in the ditch along the side of the road, and in the parking lot.  The workers were so shook up and all they wanted to know was if their co-workers and friends were ok.  It was such a nightmare.

People like us were glued to the TV hoping to see our loved ones walk out unharmed.
It was such a terrible thing...and our hearts go out to all of those who lost their loved ones...and to all who found out that their loved ones had been injured.

A few days have passed now, and I am still counting our blessings that our grandson and his friends are safe.  But we still can't believe that such a terrible thing has happened in small town Kansas.  It seems that no place is safe from harm...and we just never know what can happen do we?

I tell you what though...it sure makes you want to let your loved ones know how very much they mean to you, and just how very much you love them.  This grandson of ours had been living with us since he was 18, and we saw him on a daily basis, but he got his own place a few months ago, and so we have been missing him...but we are happy that he and a couple of his buddies have been able to get a place of their own.  We pray for them every day.  We pray for good things in their lives...and for God's protection.  We are so thankful that God did protect him on this tragic occasion.  And now I pray that the terror he went through will fade as the days go by, and that peace will come to him.  This grandma wishes she could make it all go away...and that I could erase it from his memory...but of course I cannot.

Each day we have to trust, hope, and pray, that all of the people who have been through this will lean on God, family, friends and each other...and get through this together.