Living without regret

I recently read a book that a girl's family wrote after she was killed in the 1999 Columbine school shootings. I bought the books years ago and just never got around to reading it. I was in high school when the Columbine massacre took place so it really resonated with me. I bought the book as soon as it came out and then realized that it made those shootings too real. It was like reading about a classmate. So I put the book away for years. Now that I live in Denver and pretty close to Columbine High School (I did make Jackson take me there once just so I could see it...) I decided it was time to read her story. It was a great book. I read it mostly on the train on the way to work. I laughed. I cried. A lot. And I was inspired.

The book was centered around a girl named Rachel who was a devout Christian. Her religion was the reason that she was selected to be killed that day. The killers had mentioned her name as a target multiple times in the videos they made explaining their plans for that day. (The videos, of course, were found a few days too late.) Anyway, Rachel was an incredible young woman. What stood out the most to me was her will to live without regret. She always told the people who were important to her how much she loved them. She actually did stop and smell the roses if she walked by some. She wrote notes to her classmates when she knew that they were struggling to support them. Was she perfect? No. No one has been perfect except for Jesus Christ. She tried, though. She made her best effort each day to be the person that God wanted her to be and because of that she made an impact. She was only 17 when she died, but the changes she made for God's kingdom were large.

I challenge each of you to live without regret. I know this is a hard time in history to be living and working. We're constantly worried about our jobs, our security and our freedoms. I challenge you to do your best everyday at work so that if you're let go you have no regrets. I challenge you to think about your loved ones and if they know how much they mean to you. If you don't think that they know (and even if they do) tell them! I challenge you (and me- for sure) to PRAY for our nation instead of just being sour and playing the blame game. God is still with us. He was with Rachel the day that she died. He's always been here and always will be so let's make the most of it.