Two blocks and "The Day After Syndrome"

Life is a very precious thing. That's one of many things I've learned in the last two days.

The shootings in Bristol on Wednesday happened two blocks from where I work. Two blocks. If the man who did the killing had gone north instead of south, there's no telling what would've happened. I thank the Lord that all my coworkers and myself were spared from that...the worst of it we got was seeing all the police cars in front of that apartment building while we were on our way to lunch. As a matter of fact, I went by as they were having a press conference across the street beside one of the buildings there.

It all started with that trip. Every so often there are ambulances and police cars around the apartment complexes downtown, so I didn't think too much of it. I got back to work, ate lunch, and was about to go clock back in for work when the boss called from Washington, DC, and asked if I knew that four people were shot two blocks from me. We have no TV in our section of the building, and no one else had called to tell us anything.

The rest of the day was involved in refreshing the local TV stations' websites and answering phone calls from family because my sister had surgery that day, too. It was quite a big mess all day.

Today was a different story. I call it "The Day After Syndrome." It's the day you get the newspaper and see pictures of everything that happened and more information comes out. I hate the day after because I always start thinking about what happened and it gets me down sometimes.

My thoughts tonight are surrounding Brandi, the girl who was spared in her mother's apartment...everyone else who was in there Wednesday morning is dead. Her mom, her boyfriend, her cousin, and her ex-boyfriend all within a couple hours of each other. I can't imagine what it's like.

Even thought I've never met Brandi, I feel a huge burden to pray for her, because she's got a lot of things to go through these next few days. Funerals, talking with police, eventually talking with reporters, and sooner or later, going through the things of those she lost. That's going to be a lot to take for a girl who is just 19, and that's not even touching the surface. It's going to be rough, that's for sure.

Please pray for Brandi...this is a girl who really needs the Lord after all that's happened to her these last two days.

Also, pray for the officers and the entire city of Bristol. I don't know how everyone else is taking this, but it's shaken me quite a bit. If the rest of the city is taking it the same way, we need to pray for the Lord's healing power for all of us as well.