I have wanted to blog about Jon & Kate Gosselin for several months now, as their recent marital struggles just break my heart. Just before the airing of their "announcement" episode, I stumbled upon a blog called "Jon & Kate Prayers" written by Rick Garner. This heartfelt blog spoke exactly the words I had been trying to find myself, calling us to pray for the Gosselin 10 rather than spew words of hatred, bitterness, jealousy or slander against them. I honestly don't understand why so many people hate them with such a vendetta as if Kate had personally slapped them herself. I am so incredibly far from perfect myself that if people were to watch my life 24/7, I wonder if they would hate me too? It's a scary thought. Judge not lest ye be judged...I will say that I met Kate in person in late April 2009 at a local book signing and was disheartened to see the sadness in her eyes. Little did I know what she was going through at home during that month (this being just a few weeks before the "announcement" episode aired). She seemed a combination of very stressed and very sad. She was not the chipper & happy individual that we had all watched in earlier seasons. I could very much tell that she would rather not be there that day, but felt the commitment to her contractual obligation. On the spur of the moment I tried to think of something to say to her when I walked up to get my book signed during the Meet & Greet. I asked, "Are you having a good day?" to which she looked up at me surprised that someone had broken the silence of the room. She hesitated for a split second and then gave a forced cheerful answer, "Um yes!" (What other answer can anyone expect from a question like that in such a situation?) Five weeks later, as I learned more about all of their ongoing family trials, I kicked myself pretty hard for not saying something more significant such as, "I'm praying for you and your family" (which I already was).
Jon & Kate have professed in the past that they are Christians. The show featured them going to church on one episode and their old house was decorated with scripture verses on handwritten index cards posted around the kitchen. According to their own testament, just about the only time they left the house when the sextuplets were infants was once a week to drive an hour to church. Jon's odd behavior as of late is really not that different from many other Christians I know... I can tell you about the sins of a lot of people I know. I can't explain them or justify or condone them, but I can pray for those people. And that's where the Jon & Kate Prayers: Power of Prayer blog entry comes in... I urge you to click on the link below to read exactly what I wanted to say myself. In fact I wished I could just copy this guy's content and cite it here, but I'll avoid the plagiarism and let you read it on his site.
Jon and Kate Prayers: Power of Prayer
The prayer blog has also garnered international attention as well... a writer for the Vancouver Sun wrote an article about Rick Garner's site entitled, "Jon & Kate should go on a date. With God."
