9/11 - Ten Years and 343 Memories

It only seems like yesterday that this horrifying attack occurred.  I remember the morning quite well.  I just started a new job at a location on the Western Slope of Colorado and I was due at work at 7:00am Mountain time - which was 9:00am Eastern time.  I had walked into the operation office and grabbed my requisite morning cup of coffee.  The office administrator and several others were huddled around a radio listening so I felt compelled to see what funny thing was on the radio.  What I heard was unreal.  I made some comment referencing the Orson Wells "War of the Worlds" radio show from long ago and the terror it had caused when there really was no alien invasion at all.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  The event that was unfolding was as real as the hot cup of coffee in my hands.  The rest of that day was rather surreal.


When I was able to see some television coverage it was even more striking.  Seeing the people running away from the towers, seeing the smoke rising from the first tower, seeing the second airplane hit the second tower, seeing the Men and Women of FDNY - New York's Finest ...running... TOWARDS the danger that all the others were running away from.

You see, I have been in those situations where I was with a group of men running into the danger while others were running away.  On that day I understood, just as I still understand to this day, the thoughts and fears that were running through their minds.  I too was a Firefighter - eight years of service as a Firefighter/EMT.  I remember so very well getting home that evening and seeing the never ending loop of the towers falling.  All the while all I could think about were those Firefighters of FDNY who were just doing what they do.  Selflessly serving others. Holding up their end of the deal when they swore to "Protect and Serve".

I remember simply being overwhelmed by the images that I saw and being moved to tears for people I didn't know and would not ever have the pleasure of knowing.  For some strange reason, I suppose out of not knowing what to do, I found myself out in the driveway taping up a small American flag in the back window of my truck.  I remember walking around to the tailgate and looking at the flag I had just installed.  I remember looking back down at my shoes and seeing the Firefighter license plate that I so proudly carried on my bumper.  I remember thinking about those 343 Brothers and Sisters, that I did not know, streaming up the stairs in those twin towers - just doing their job, just doing what they loved, just selflessly serving the people they vowed to Protect and Serve.

9/11/2001...You are a day that I will never forget. 

Although I am no longer a Firefighter/EMT I still find myself saying a little prayer every time I see one of those big beautiful engines rolling with the chrome gleaming, the lights flashing and sizzling with glorious intensity, and the wail of the sirens that are calling out... "Hang on, help is on the way!"

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  Matthew 25:40

May the Lord bless and keep our Firefighters every time they answer the call of duty in their various communities across this great nation.

Thanks for what you do out there on the line!

Blessings...

Rescued...

¹⁶ He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
   he drew me out of deep waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
   from my foes, who were too strong for me.
¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
   but the LORD was my support.
¹⁹ He brought me out into a spacious place;
   he rescued me because he delighted in me.         Psalm 18

Psalm 18 is one of my favorites.  It speaks to me at the core of my being.  It describes my desperation, my distress, and my fears, but yet it describes the one who rescues me from my enemies and brings me victory.  It describes the Lord in whom I place my trust and my life.  My rock, my deliverer, my refuge, my shield, my stronghold, my salvation... my Savior.

It appears that when the Psalmist wrote this that he was wanting to be rescued from human enemies. Ones who desired him to be no more.  Personally I don't think I have those kind of enemies, but I have enemies none-the-less.  Enemies of fear and feelings of inadequacy.  Temptations that steal my time and focus.  Wondering if I am living my life with significance for the Kingdom.

Are these questions of myself of significance?  I believe that they are.  However, I choose to believe that these questions are ones that He wants me to ponder and address just to show me how powerful He is and just how much He loves me.  Simply because I am His creation and that I was created to live my life to glorify Him.

Just as verse 19 says...

"He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me."

This Psalm for me, and specifically this verse, is one of those green pastures that the 23rd Psalm speaks of.


Blessings

Extravagant Abandon

"Our Heavenly Father loves us with an extravagant abandon. Passionate, undignified worship is our only reasonable response." Matt Redman

It has been awhile since I have written here. Much has changed. We left Nashville with heavy hearts last fall, but God has been faithful to us.  I'm currently leading worship at a smallish Georgia church in a "bi-vocational" nature. Boiling down all the "church speak", this means I have a full time job outside of church and lead as an uncompensated volunteer. It's fun but stressful as well.

I have had the above quote from Matt Redman on my FB page and in my heart for several years now.  Just this week I was reading in 2 Samuel 6 about the Arc holding the Ten Commandments being returned to Israel.  I was struck by David's response and actions. 

¹⁴ Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.  ¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.
 ¹⁷ They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. ¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
 ²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
 ²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.

The more I learn about David the more I understand why the Lord said that David was a man after God's own heart.  Reading this story I can't help but think about our individual responses to God in our worship.  I get to observe the range of responses each week. 

The worldly view of David's response, borne out in the comment of Michal daughter of Saul, I propose is not much different than the way many of us respond to someone in a corporate worship setting who raise their hands or sing at the top of their lungs to the One they know redeemed them. 

How many times do we think the same thing Michal stated (with the exception of the whole King of Israel part)? I know I've been guilty of that before I encountered what the Lord can do in my life when I'm surrendered and open to Him.

What David then declares says it all about his resolve for the Lord.  David said, "I will celebrate" and "I will become more undignified than this..."

 Looking back, the faith of David floors me.  He knew of God in the sense of His hand on his life, but he only knew of the promise of Jesus.  He didn't have the benefit of the back story that we have.  We know that Jesus came, that He walked this earth as a man - one of us -, that He poured into twelve men, that He gave is life in exchange for ours, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven with the promise that He would one day return.

Knowing what we know, how can we not worship with "Extravagant Abandon?"

I submit to you this question...

Blessings...

Joe