Common Sense Reborn

Work To Do

⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach. ⁸If it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:6-8)

Greetings family. The last two weeks have felt like a lifetime. Three days after my last post, my family lost their matriarch: my wife’s beloved Grandmother. Our family’s quintessential “Nanny” was called home by Jesus Christ. We had over a month to prepare for the moment Nanny passed, as she had been sent home from the hospital back on July 17 and placed on Hospice care. With every passing week, when we were praying for God to work healing miracles through her, some of the family took the opportunity to visit Nanny in person to show their appreciation for all she did in their lives. My wife and I took our children every weekend to spend the majority of at least one day with Nanny, until the last weekend, when her health took the final decline. And then in a moment of God’s grace and mercy, as my little family met in our prayer room, we shifted our prayers away from miracle healing and prayed that God would call Nanny into His presence quickly, to spare her from any more misery. We finished our prayers and before I could even exit the prayer room, my wife received the phone call that her grandmother had passed away.

Then came the whirlwind of preparing for her Celebration of Life. I had been asked to speak on behalf of the family. It was the hardest moment of my life to speak through. I had done my best to prepare something worthy of the life Nanny lived, but I was rushed in the final moments due to the distractions of this world, and I failed to fully prep myself for the moment. I followed my training in speech writing: prepare the work, proof the work, transcribe the work to notecards, but the main step I missed, was the practice, the memorization. It actually helped because I was overwhelmed with emotion trying to deliver Nanny’s eulogy, so focusing on my notecards actually helped me keep my composure and do my best to speak on this amazing woman. I hope to get on this platform soon and share what Nanny meant to me, my family, and the world she helped mold.

But for today, I want to focus on you, dear reader. We continue to live in a very dark world. This week, the devil was at work and was able to use a pawn to inflict horror on a small Catholic school, killing two beautiful children and wounding several others. If you follow this platform, you know that I have spoken out against this specific American problem many times. School shootings is not a worldwide evil. It is crisis and disease that is specific to America only. In 2025, America has already experienced 288 school shootings. The next closest country: Mexico, with only eight! Click here to see the world map yourself.

I do not want to spend time rehashing the root causes of this. Brave men and women of this country realize what we are lacking and have been speaking out about this for years. I spent a large part of my time on this platform when I was stationed in Poland speaking about what Poland does to keep their country extremely safe and crime free. This article from Vice.com goes into precise detail onto the four common denominators of every mass shooter over the last fifty years, breaking down each target location and what primarily drives the shooter to choose their specific target. But the most alarming, single factor that links all of these shootings is that the perpetrator is ALWAYS a male.

What are you doing in your little bubble to make everyone feel loved, feel appreciated, feel valued by God? What are you doing every day to use the talents God gave you to show just one person the love of Christ in a way that they truly know who God is and how God sees them?

I opened with the verses above because I feel that this epidemic America is facing is much more personal than just sensible gun laws and mental health care. This is a personal responsibility we all face each and every day. God had given each of us special talents, special gifts. For some, it is the gift of prophecy, to be able to speak the truth, the way, and the life of Christ with such fluency that their words captivate congregations, followers, and strangers alike. God calls them to lives of ministry, or to just minister in the life they live. For others, God gifts us with the ability to teach, to lead, to write. You have a gift, a God-ordained gift that sets you apart from everyone else. It may be through artistic means: painting, drawing, or digital creation. Your gift may be a mechanic edge, a culinary touch, or just love for others. The point is, God has given you a gift, it is up to you how you use it. Are you using it for good, or are you using it for self-interest? Are you using it to show the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ to those you interact with? If you are not, then the moment is now. We have allowed the devil to rule this world long enough. God provided the blueprint thousands of years ago when He gave His book of instruction to mankind. When that was not enough, God sent Jesus to live with us, to teach us even more clearly how to live a righteous life. Despite having all of this, we fail to live up to our true potential. We fail to love everyone as Jesus does. We fail to help the least of us as Jesus commanded. We fail. We fail each other. We fail ourselves. We fail our God.

Make today the day you stop failing. Make today the day you maximize your God-given potential. Make today the day you walk, hand-in-hand with Christ. Bury your old self and rise as a new creation in Christ. Put your hands to work, because there’s work to do. Make today the day you turn those hands holy.