Little girls

My wife and I have two little girls, as I’m sure you guys are aware.

I'm not sure when I first realized it, but little girls have become something of a frame of reference for me, an interpretive guide: I see the world in terms of pigtails, PB&Js and stuffed puppy dogs.

I covered a story this week about a local soldier returning from Iraq to his family and small community. As a surprise, his friends and church had his old run-down 1973 Plymouth Barracuda restored while he was gone, just to show their love and appreciation. They’re presenting it to him this weekend. He still doesn’t know. It’s a nice heartwarming story about people doing good things for each other, the kind everyone likes to read.

The soldier and his wife have two little girls, ages 5 and 4, very much like my own. That’s the best part of the story: Two little girls get their Daddy back. That’s what I noticed most because, as I explained, I see the world in terms of little girls.

God knows I wish I could end this post here, with everything right with the world. But I can’t because the world isn’t all right. Fact is, this world is hard on the innocent. That’s one thing about my job. I see that side of it more often than I would like.

I covered another story this week – I won’t go into the specific details – about a father who was stabbed in the back by a convicted felon recently released from prison. His spine was severed and now he’s lying in the hospital in a coma and quite possibly will never wake up again. He has a wife and yes: Two little girls. Ages 9 and 4.

So just as two little girls, God bless them, are getting their Daddy back from Iraq, two other little girls may have lost their Daddy forever.

I see the world in terms of little girls -- what blessings they bring to it and how it treats them in return -- and it doesn’t make my job any easier. In a world where little girls can lose their Daddies for no good reason at all, there’s only one hope and it begins and ends with one name: Jesus Christ.

Please pray for the children tonight, church family. Pray for them every night.