Jenny's American Slice

***I have to get this off my chest. I have avoided the myriad threads in Facebook about the tragedy that took place in Richmond last week as I didn't want to deal with the inevitable silliness that would follow my posting my opinion. The boy's mother is the one who called in the tip, and the police where there when he arrived. She no doubt saved several lives, the boy in question had two firearms and explosives in his possession. He obviously was planning to do a lot of harm. Since then, however, there has been an overabundance of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Of course it's tragic and awful, you would have to be nuts to think otherwise. BUT, if the Dennis middle schoolers did not feel like victims before, they certainly do now. Counselors, days out of school, free T-shirts, free day at the local recreational complex, endless worrying about their feelings...not terrible things, but come on. So many are wailing about bullying and how it has to stop and oh, what a

***Wanted to blog about this while it's still fresh in my head. I always have the best intentions but...other stuff always seems to get in the way. Or, I should say, I allow other stuff to get in the way. James had a great message this morning before communion. He talked about how he was listening to the radio and heard a Christian Christmas song about the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, how he is our hope and the source of our joy - in other words, a song about the true meaning of Christmas. He said right after that the Chipmunks Christmas song came on. He spoke about the contrast between the sacred and the secular, the truth and the world, the source of joy and the source of...well, pretty much nothing. What really stuck with me is his analogy of how we chase after worldly things and they're like soap bubbles - we keep grabbing at them, thinking they are going to bring us happiness and peace, and they pop, and just aren't there. The only lasting thing, the only