"We may never know why this happened."

That's the usual reaction when another "senseless" shooting leaves its trail of death and heartbreak. Not this time.

The vengeful gunman in last week's horrific rampage near Santa Barbara, California left a hate-filled, 141-page manifesto to explain it. Three were stabbed to death, three sorority girls shot to death, 13 injured. It was one student's self-described "day of retribution."

"My Twisted World" is, in part, a journal of growing romantic and sexual frustration. Girls went for other guys but not for him. Others were having sex while he was an unintentional virgin. Frustration morphed into loneliness, then desperation, then a hellish personal agenda of destroying what had hurt him.

Even the hard-core reporters are having a hard time talking about it.

Apparently, the Ground Zero Museum that opens this week where the Twin Towers once stood is one powerful experience.

The florists are in their recliners, recovering from their busiest day of the year. Hallmark is counting all their Mother's Day card money. And the phone companies are pretty happy, too. It's the busiest calling day of the year.

Mother's Day is over for another year. But not their marks on our life.

Man, did it catch me off guard. Tears as I was watching the news.

It was all Kevin Durant’s fault. The Oklahoma City Thunder star was accepting the NBA’s MVP award.  Nothing you’d expect to be a tear-jerker.

Our firstborn - our daughter - was only a few days old when I first called her "Princess." She's been my princess ever since.

I cannot imagine the agony of having her snatched from her school and taken who knows where.

Our firstborn - our daughter - was only a few days old when I first called her "Princess." She's been my princess ever since.

I cannot imagine the agony of having her snatched from her school and taken who knows where.

This last batch of killer tornadoes missed our area. But the lives and places devastated this time hit a little closer to home.

The Mississippi folks at the conference we were at were getting some pretty scary reports from back home. Others from North Carolina were still talking about the toddler who died in a tornado that struck nearby. Friends in a ministry organization we know were deeply wounded by the death of a coworker and his daughters in Arkansas.

This last batch of killer tornadoes missed our area. But the lives and places devastated this time hit a little closer to home.

The Mississippi folks at the conference we were at were getting some pretty scary reports from back home. Others from North Carolina were still talking about the toddler who died in a tornado that struck nearby. Friends in a ministry organization we know were deeply wounded by the death of a coworker and his daughters in Arkansas.

It just sounds weird. "Mount Everest is closed."

But that was the headline last week. No one's climbing that most iconic of all mountaineering conquests.

Because last week 16 Sherpa guides were lost on the mountain. As blocks of ice as big as automobiles came cascading down on them.

It was awful. That Korean ferry rolling into the sea. Then disappearing beneath the waves. Filled with trapped passengers - many of them teenagers.

It's heartbreaking to see all those loved ones on the dock, grieving inconsolably. Over their children who will never come home again.