Protest

What a weekend here in the heartland! I have more bragging to do on my children - but, hey, how many posts can be written about them, right? Some of my biggest news is that I lost my camera in Wichita. waaaaaaaaaagggghhhhh!! I cannot be without my camera. I e-mailed the tournament director on a whim to see if anyone turned it in and.....................they have it and are going to ship it to me this week! yippee!!

This post is about something I wanted to write about since I heard it was going to happen. These pictures, by the way, were taken by the wonderful action, real-life photog Tod M. Thanks for sharing these with me, Tod. I would have put all of them on here, but blogger only lets me put 5!

Last week, Josh came home with a letter from school letting parents know that a radical group from a church in Kansas was coming to protest at our high school. They came to Oklahoma because a homosexual was allowed to give a prayer over our legislature and they wanted to let our town know that we have tornados because of all our sin. This group is most widely known for their protests at the funerals of soldiers killed in war. They came for the funeral of a young soldier from EHC who was killed in Iraq a few years ago. I do have to share one thing from that funeral.

Trevor had grown up at EHC and was well-loved so his death hit everyone hard. We certainly couldn't understand why a group would come to shout things like "God loves dead soldiers" and "God is glad he is dead." The group has to get a permit for every protest and they have to stay in a certain place the whole time. The youth from EHC got loads of cow manure and lined the corner where the protesters had to stand!! I didn't get to see the protesters, but I was very proud of our youth!

So, this group came to our town Monday. The group consisted of one woman, her three children, aunt and cousin.
This picture breaks my heart. How old can this little boy be? I can't even type what his shirt said - I don't want some crazy getting on my blog if they happen to google it. I only pray one day he knows the true God of this universe and His abundant love. Their other signs were even more horrible.

These next two pictures are just to give you an idea of how many people turned out to counter-protest. Tonya said it was amazing to see. I did giggle at the yellow sign in the upper right corner that said "God doesn't like ugly!"

The protesters were standing on the American flag - this was the response of our people!

First thing Monday morning, my friend, Susan, called to tell me the students were already preparing. Arrangements had been made to release all students before the time the protesters were allowed to be at the school. But, that morning the parking lot edge was lined with cars like the one in this picture. They had all kinds of different, encouraging messages about the real love of God.

This picture makes me cry just thinking about what these guys do. They are part of a Christian motorcycle group that comes out every time this group protests. When the protesters start chanting, they rev up the engines of their bikes!! It is so loud that the people can't be heard!! I am so grateful for that because the things they say are disgusting.

By the time I got to do a drive by, the protesters had already gone but there were still groups of students on the sidewalks - some grouped in prayer, some just hanging out. Some of the motorcycle guys were still at the convenience store across the street. What a crazy day. I really wanted to know what God thought of what happened there.

I was already emotional at the thought of what went on, but the song "Our God Reigns" happened to be on the radio right at that moment.

He certainly does! And for that, I am truly grateful!

B.