There is a song by Steven Curtis Chapman that says:
I can see the fingerprints of god
When I look at you
I can see the fingerprints of god
And I know its true
You're a masterpiece
That all creation quietly applauds
And you're covered with the fingerprints of god
So look around you and see where YOU can see God's fingerprints. Is it in nature? Kids? Animals? Where do you see them? Here's how to
join in.
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Today, I had a plan on what I was going to thank God for but, so a major things has happened here in Texas and that has put a hold on my plans for today and to focus on those who need God more.
Today, I'm giving my Fingerprint Friday those who lost their lives, those where injured, and every single person who was effected by the events that happened yesterday at Fort Hood. Maybe you don't know what happened or you just learned about it. I heard about it shortly after it went on the air, while I was at work - I just happened to go to my home page and see the "Breaking News Alert". This event, in general, scares the crap out of me. A military base should be safe from those who want to hurt us, this is the one place a military member should be able to go and let their guard down, take a break, be themselves. Because I promise you, every other time, that's not how it is - they are watching out for everyone else, that is their job and they are damn good at it. This man has taken this one place away from those who keep up safe at night, those who put their lives on the line for other people. It kills me that now, if you go on a base, you are going to have to watch over your shoulder because you don't know what might happen, someone might loose it.
If you have not read it yet here is the news report as of right now (as we know with all news it will change as time passes - as they learn new details):
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
FORT HOOD, Texas - Military officials were starting Friday to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 30 in Texas.
The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times during the shootings at the Army's sprawling Fort Hood, post officials said. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the victims who had been shot and killed was the shooter. The mistake resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the alleged assailant.
The commander of the Fort Hood Lt. Gen. Bob Cone told NBC's TODAY on Friday that Hasan was in a "stable condition." He said he would be interrogated as soon as possible.
Cone also said he heard first-hand accounts from witnesses on the scene that the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar," which means "God is Great" in Arabic, before he opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood.
In a separate interview, Cone said survivors have told him the shooter carried out his gunfire in "a very calm and measured approach."
Some 300 soldiers were lined up to get shots and eye-testing when the shots rang out. Cone said one soldier who had been shot told him, 'I made the mistake of moving and I was shot again.' "
The general said survivors told him that during the rampage, soldiers "would scramble to the ground and help each other out." Cone appeared on CBS's "The Early Show."
'Friendly fire'
Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group, the official said. He would not say whether any evidence had come to light to support that theory.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.
The gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, some soldiers were readying to head into a graduation ceremony for troops and families who had recently earned degrees.
‘Sir, they are opening fire over there!’Pastor Greg Schannep had just parked his car along the side of the theater and was about to head into the ceremony when a man in uniform approached him.
"Sir, they are opening fire over there!" the man told him. At first, he thought it was a training exercise — then heard three volleys and saw people running. As the man who warned him about the shots ran away, he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound.
Schannep said police and medical and other emergency personnel were on the scene in an instant, telling people to get inside the theater. The post went into lockdown while a search began for a suspect and emergency workers began trying to treat the wounded. Some soldiers rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
Fort Hood's Cone praised the soldiers for their quick reaction.
"God bless these soldiers," Cone said. "As horrible as this was it could have been worse."
Cone made special mention of Amber Bahr, 19, an army nutritionist who was wounded during the attack. He said she helped wounded soldiers during the rampage. Only after the attack did she realize that she herself was wounded, Cone said.
Her mother, Lisa Pfund, told the Sheboygan Press that she spoke briefly to Bahr after she was taken to a community hospital.
"I actually got to talk to Amber and I talked to her for about 30 seconds and she was in a lot of pain," Pfund said. "She couldn't tell me nothing, either."
Shock
Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover. Schools on the base went into lockdown, and family members trying to find out what was happening inside found cell phone lines jammed or busy.
"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.
The bodies of the victims would be taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for autopsies and forensic tests, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
There will also be a ceremony at the air base to honor the dead.
Jamie and Scotty Casteel stood outside the emergency room at the hospital in Temple waiting for news of their son-in-law Matthew Cooke, who was among the injured.
"He's been shot in the abdomen and that's all we know," Jamie Casteel told The Associated Press. She said Cook, from New York state, had been home from Iraq for about a year.
Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm, but she couldn't discuss specifics. Saucedo said she and the couple's two children weren't permitted to leave their home at Fort Hood during the shootings.
Anger about looming deployment?
The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon, and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. Retired Col. Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News he was being sent to Afghanistan.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
The FBI, local police and other agencies searched Hasan's apartment Thursday night after evacuating the complex in Killeen, said city spokeswoman Hilary Shine. She referred questions about what was found to the FBI. The FBI in Dallas referred questions to a spokesman who was not immediately available early Friday morning.
© 2009 msnbc.comI have my own thoughts as I am sure many, many people do also. This was wrong, this man should have never opened fire at our men and women, getting ready to deploy for war or anyone for that matter, but he did. So, I'm asking you, instead of being hateful towards this man (which, trust me is very hard to do) ask God to keep those hurt close to his heart instead. Keep those families, who lost loved ones yesterday or who had loved ones injured in your prayers tonight. I have said it before and I will say it again - in times of trouble it's hard to see God and how this might be a fingerprint but if you think of all the people who are praying to him, asking him to hold those people close to him it really is amazing. Yesterday, today, tonight, and for a long, long time these people will be in my heart and prayers.
Love,
KJ
