A school shooting that occurred many years ago certainly had an impact on not only a member of the local church of which at the time it occurred of which I was a fairly new member & but also many other who never personally knew her. I only had just started working with this member on our Children's Church ministry. The shooting to which I refer was the one at a Jonesboro AR middle school. A pregnant 6th grade teacher & her unborn child were mercilessly shoot several times & was killed as she shielded her students from the deranged two deranged boys in their scheme to terrify that school's student body. This middle-aged pregnant women was a cousin to this member. His initial response was, "Well, she was always that kind of women, risking her all to shield her young friends from harm." I still recall watching those TV interviews in which student after student remarked that, "She was much more than our teacher....She was our best friend!" These horror-struck kids were just now facing their teenage years related that, "She'd often set aside her teacher duties just to hear our problems. We looked up to her because she really did cared for us, especially as we were to begin being a teenager. She'd always try to encourage us to be open and honest about our fears, and having gone through those tough times as a kid herself and dealing with her problems and challenges that we faced just growing up, she knew first hand what we were facing. We lost not just a teacher, we lost a friend! And that little unborn baby she was carrying who will never see the face of its mother, O God, how can we explain that to ourselves? And her husband! He'd already built his first child's play room, and was anxiously looking forward loving that baby and its mother. How can we possibly make sense out of this? Why! Why! She allowed not only her own self but her little baby to keep us kids from dying!! Our tears will never bring either one back to life, and now she's gone for good! You'll never replace her!".....Her cousin attended her memorial service that was just about 250 miles from our church. That city turned out en masse to mourn her tragic passing. From time to time I'd ask how her husband was doing, and he'd reply that although she knew her Bible and its stories of brave young folks, but I never expected her own story to be one in which I've got to piece through. This friend of mine did tell me what was on her grave marker stone: "There is no greater love than this, That a person laying down his life for his friends." a quote from Jesus Himself in John 15:13. Many years have passed, but something such as her living and dying testimony is something I hope to always remember.
