Thank You to WebSleuths

I will start with the Thank You. This blog started in 2007, I can hardly believe it. For the first few years I wrote everyday, it became too much especially considering all the personal tragedies I was facing at the time. It began with a purpose which it succeeded in achieving and I then killed it off, deleting all posts. I started the blog anew and changed the purpose and subjects, when that was achieved, I deleted all the posts again. I then started this third iteration with a different intent and focused more on a different series of subject. The blog expanded it's scope.

This current set of posts, the third iteration of my blog was more focused on financial misdeeds within the government, public pensions and large financial institutions. Along the way I have tried to throw in some analysis of the news, particularly how the media misrepresents and misleads the public. I have also tried to bring up some social issues. One day a few years ago I read about the killing of Pastor Carol Daniels, her story had touched my heart. Not the story of her death; but, the story of what a dedicated preacher she was. I was impressed that she would drive so far on the mere possibility that people might come to her church on that day. I was impressed by her character. I have never written about this until now.

I am impressed by selflessness, commitment and concern for others. She paid for these things with her life. It doesn't matter why her killer did what he did, the win was Pastor Daniels achievement. She lived a life of intent, not just words; but, intent. When I read that story, I had to tell it to others. I had to let them know about this amazing woman. Because of how I was raised, I could not help but analyze the crime scene information. I solve puzzles for a reason, it is how my brain is wired. Next thing I knew it was my most read post in history (not knowing the count on posts from the last two iterations of this blog). I started getting comments on it from all sorts of people who did not follow the blog or read it daily. My regular readers barely noticed it, it was not the subject matter that I write about usually. I did not know what to make of it all.

Well, time went by and I continued getting comments on the first post and she remained in my mind. When I would see an increase in viewership to that post, I would check the news and recent events to see if there was any new news about the Pastor's death. I would see that the reward was renewed or someone had been interviews and whether or not there was anything new worthy of mention on my blog and I wanted to know if there was any promising news regarding catching the killer. I always tried to be respectful; but, recognize that the subject matter alone was tragic and I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I try to keep this blog readable by anyone including children.

Then one day, I got a comment from one of the family members. Well, first I was asked to preach. I never intended to preach in my life, I never felt driven in that way. I was the token, non-Spanish speaking, old, bald, white guy preacher to the people who didn't speak Spanish and showed up at this Spanish speaking church. Somedays people would show up and other days nobody showed up. So, here I am standing in a old church, in the basement, waiting to see if anyone will show up. At 6:00 on Sundays. LOL. I started thinking about how Pastor Daniels not only did this; but, drove like 65 miles to do it. The church was only about 12 miles from my house. She drove a lot longer and as I used to commute that far to work, church was a breeze. When I would get disheartened, I would think of Pastor Daniels, she became an inspiration to me.

Then one day something very strange happened, her family contacted me and thanked me. I was stunned and humbled. This occurrence stopped me dead in my tracks. When I wrote it, I wrote it to my regular readers not to the family or people interested in the case. How could I possibly know that I would become one of the top searches when people search her name? This is not NBC or the Drudge Report, very few read this blog. My whole opinion of this blog changed and I couldn't delete the past posts anymore, I couldn't kill the blog. It had done something I had never considered, it became important to some people. It found it's purpose and maybe I found my purpose again because of it.

I did not write it because she died, I wrote it because she had lived. The rest of the original post was about the crime because that is how my mind works. Pastor Daniels is a hero to me not a victim. The greatest love is shown when someone gives their life for another, that is what the bible says. She was a preacher, I am pretty sure she knew that and the words of her relatives make me believe that even more. She died because she was willing to drive 65 miles each way, wait inside a shoddy church, in a small town in the middle of nowhere every Sunday on the chance that someone would need to know about Christ.

I don't know how to take a thank you for this from the family or WebSleuths or anyone else. It wasn't planned. I had never even heard of Anardarko. I know about it now; but, it wasn't on my radar back in the day. I didn't read their daily paper and did not follow crimes. I hate following crimes, crimes shows and anything that glorifies criminal behavior. As a kid, I couldn't do anything without my dad asking me if there was any crimes going on. I would spend my weekends as a child with him checking on criminals and confiscated items. It began in elementary school. Imagine growing up with a mind that seeks out puzzles to a father who is always asking you to figure out criminal puzzles? The point is, I didn't write the post to solve a crime, I wrote it to highlight a life that amazed me. I am pretty sure that is not what people take away from the post because I focused on the crime and couldn't explain the reason why I was writing about it in the first place well enough.

I thank the people of Websleuths for seeking to right wrongs and caring about the families of victims of crimes. If anyone wishes to thank me for anything in regards to that post. Thank me for loving and forgiving others as did Pastor Carol Daniels. The reason I wrote about her.