Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

What Can We Do in Light of Sutherland Springs?

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I have been taking a little self-imposed break from serious writing because my last piece took a lot our of me emotionally (you can read it here).  But it’s been one week since the heartbreaking violence at the small Texas church of Sutherland Springs, and I saw an article this week by Don Sweeney with the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram that prompted me to respond.  Sweeney reports that a backlash is swelling on social media just as it did after the mass shooting in Las Vegas on October 1st.  The object of the resentment?  Thoughts and prayers.

It’s quite common in this day of, what seems to be, almost constant tragedies for those with a social media account to share concern and pledge “thoughts and prayers” to those affected.  Scores have expressed this or similar sentiments in regards to these two events as well as the natural catastrophes of hurricanes and wild fires.  But some are vilifying these simple compassionate words.  Examples of the retorts include:  “To anyone saying ‘thoughts and prayers’ to the victims…they were in CHURCH.  They don’t need more prayers.  They need gun control.” – Mikel Jollett  And “Enough with the ‘thoughts and prayers already’.  The bible teaches us that faith without works is dead.  Do something or say nothing.” – Joy Reid  And “After decades of data, I think we all can conclude the ‘thoughts and prayers’ method of gun-violence prevention is 0% effective.” – Kaivan Shroff 

While I agree that telling someone you are thinking of them is little more than a kind sentiment with no ability to change their current situation, prayer belongs in a wholly different category.  2 Corinthians 10:3-4 says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”  And prayer is one of those weapons.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and 18 the Bible commands us to “pray continually…for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  Another passage confirms that “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  James 5:16.  At first glance, I might wonder if James 5 disqualifies me from doing prayer battle.  How can I, who messes up royally and often, be righteous?  Romans chapter 3 explains how:  “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (v. 22) “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (v. 24)  There is nothing I can do to be righteous, but God bestows on me the righteousness of Jesus when I put my faith in Him.  So even though I sin horribly, my prayers hold weight.  If you have put your faith in the all-powerful God and His Son Jesus, yours do too. 

Now, please don’t hear me say that prayer is the only weapon in a Christian’s arsenal.  If you feel strongly about certain legislation, then prayerfully lobby our lawmakers.  If you possess the skills necessary to render aid and the ability to travel, go.  If you have the funds to donate, get online and find a reputable source to funnel through.  www.ssfb.net offers suggestions of ways to give directly to their church or its impacted members.  But also remember that prayer itself is faith in action. 

My prayer for today:  “Arise, Lord!  Lift up your hand, O God.  Do not forget the helpless.”  Psalm 10:12

All scripture passage are from the NIV

Purple Out

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My 12-year-old daughter Allie was asked by her creative writing teacher to imagine that she could plan a week of dress-up days at school (a la red ribbon week) to bring awareness to any cause.  She wrote about Epilepsy Awareness for her sister.  The following is exerted from her school blog:
If I was able to choose a dress up week in honor of/to raise awareness to, I would choose Epilepsy awareness. I think that this issue needs social attention because, not many people know about it and there is still no cure or any “miracle medicine”  that can cure seizures or that can control all types. Epilepsy is an incurable neurological condition in which the patients of it suffer symptoms such as, seizures of many kinds and severe developmental delays. Epilepsy needs support, and I think an awareness week would be a great idea.

Here are the awareness days that I would choose:

Monday: Purple Out.
The color of epilepsy and/or epilepsy awareness is purple, so it makes sense to start off the week by showing your awareness by wearing all purple clothes.

Tuesday: Kick Epilepsy out of town.
Wear your best western wear and boots to help kick epilepsy out of town. Another idea that I had for this day was to set up a kick boxing bag in the cafeteria and having students pay a dollar to kick it, all proceeds from this will go to the epilepsy research fund.

Wednesday: Catch some zzz’s
Patients diagnosed with epilepsy often have a very difficult time sleeping or very interrupted sleep patterns, due to the seizures they may have. The day “catch some zzz’s” would be a day where all of the kids come to school in PJ’s.

Thursday: Smile/yellow day
Epilepsy can often be seen as a negative experience that is not pleasant and can often make the patients family and friends sad and feel down. Yellow is a positive color so everyone will be wearing yellow to spread positivity as well as making it important to be smiling throughout the day.

Friday: Claws out against Epilepsy
 Predatory animals, such as the tiger, often severely hurt or kill the prey that they are chasing. So we would have a day to dress as a tiger or in stripes to go “claws out against epilepsy.”

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November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month, and I couldn’t think of better words than hers talk about it.  I will add a few facts that you may not know.  1 in 20 children are affected by epilepsy, which is a spectrum of neurological disorders with over 40 types and syndromes.  For 30% of people living with epilepsy, there is no adequate treatment to control seizures.  My daughter Shelby fits into this category.  There are more people with epilepsy than cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and parkinson’s disease combined.  And last, every hour 5 people die of epilepsy related causes.  The mortality rate for Dravet syndrome alone (my daughter’s condition) is up to 20%.  (Info taken from the Epilepsy Foundation and Dravet Syndrome Foundation.)

I want to wrap this up with one question:  If you saw someone having a seizure, would you know what to do?  If you aren’t sure, click here for the Epilepsy Foundation’s official guidelines for seizure first aid.  Epilepsy awareness saves lives.  





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