Shop Til You Drop...Dead December 9, 2007
Category:
Life/Misc
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Show Description: On Wednesday, 19-year-old Robert A. Hawkins went into an Omaha's Westroads shopping mall and began a shooting rampage that killed eight people, before killing himself. While the news media will make a big deal of this event for about a week, eventually, like Virginia Tech and the mall shooting in Salt Lake City, this will become a non-event for most of us. But for at least eight families, because of this, their lives will never be the same. Have you ever had an event like that happen to you. How in an instant, everything you knew just pulled out from underneath you? Join the conversation as we look at tragedy and what to do when we face the worst things imaginable.
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Allen's Legal Pad for Shop Til You Drop...Dead
Andy's girlfriend won't let him shop at a mall this Christmas
Omaha Westroads Mall tragedy – 8 people plus the killer
Robert Hawkins, 19 – assault rifle in front of a mannequin
Left a 3 page handwritten note – tragic life – depression, in and out of care
neighbor – lost puppy nobody wanted
Left a note – predicting shooting would make him famous
Didn't want to be a burden, crap all his life – now famous
Got off elevator in front of department store – and went at it
Not famous
In fact, forgotten by next week
Forgotten by nearly everybody
VPI tragedy – distant memory – name shooter?
Penn State students – real classy – but average person not really changed by it
But Robert Hawkins won't be forgotten by everybody
At least 15 families – 8 dead plus critically injured
Got up expecting a normal day – Christmas season – maybe expecting better than normal
By time went to bed that night – had spent the day at the morgue
Changed permanently
Carry mental image – of sending a child on errand to mall for Christmas gift, or perhaps sending mom off to work at the mall – never to see them again
Powerful reminder on how it can all turn on a dime – change in a moment
They will never feel the same way again, will always be different
See things differently now
Some folks are crushed by it
Others find a new beginning, a new life
How do they do that?
Most of us, I hope, never experience this kind of life-changing moment
I think we'd all like to know the life change that comes from it if it we could do so without the grief and the pain
Like my friend, Glen, got up in 1994 to celebrate his daughter's birthday party, when everything changed – what happened that day made him one of most influential people I know – coming up
Have you had this kind of life-changing day or moment?
Bitter or better?
No simple calls- diagnosis with disease or something – someone you love left on a trip and never came back, tower of 9/11, etc..
Miscellaneous
Salt Lake shooting in a mall
The shoppers killed were identified as Gary Scharf, 48, of Lincoln, and John McDonald, 65, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The six employees killed were Angie Schuster, 36; Maggie Webb, 24; Janet Jorgensen, 67; Dianne Trent, 53; Gary Joy, 56; and Beverly Flynn, 47, all of Omaha.
1994 – Nashville, Mike 16, Daughter, 14
15 lives changes permanently, irrevocably
Ward of state – 4 years - $265,000 – groups homes, foster care, treatment center
Allen's Top Five Books
1. Mere Christianity
2. All the King's Men
3. To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Harry Potter (any of them)
5. Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
Quotes to Live By
"We are, each of us, one person. We live in one world. We are happiest and most productive when we feel the fragments of our lives moving together toward some meaningful, transcendent purpose."
-Robert A. Watson
Prayer Request from a Listener
I am 27 years old smoker with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I cant seem to find the strength to quit smoking, eat better and start exercising. I have 2 children and want to be around as long as I can for them. Please help me pray for the motivation and strength to make these changes in my life. Thank you.
- Nate :: jacksonville, fl
E-mail From Listeners
"I seldom listen to preachers on the radio but I do enjoy your show. I do agree with a lot of what you say. "
