9-11 Reflections

I joined the Marine Corps after 9-11-01 to kill fanatical Muslims who wanted to die for a faith that professes to "love death more than we love life." Well, as the Marines would often say, "It is up to God to forgive and up to the Marines to arrange the meeting." That resonated deeply within me and gave me an outlet for the rage that consumed me in those days after nearly 3,000 people were killed. So off I went to the recruiter's office. How times have changed for me.

Many would say that my change was due to the resultant "mellowing" of one's nature as the years elapsed. I must disagree with that statement. Truthfully, I was adrift at the age of 19 with a religion that left me hopeless and seething. Anyone of a religion that is their own making will eventually come to such a conclusion. But now I have Jesus and He changes everything. It is written of Him:

"Remember that you were at that time se
parated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility."

I have since become a man more in touch with sorrow and grief for those who are perishing. As for God, it is my desire that "no man should perish, but that all should reach repentance" so, though I was again full of anger for the wickedness of the terrorists of ISIS, I was directed towards an approach of life-giving instead of life-taking. Don't get me wrong, their actions are deserving of death, but I began praying for the brutal men who found their sense of purpose in the slaughter of innocents. After all, was I not the same brutal man whose sin spilled precious Jesus' innocent blood on that cross? But God had mercy on me and gave me life. I must now do the same for God's enemies if I am to proclaim myself to be a friend of Jesus.

Living in the Moment

One of the greatest lessons that I have been learning this year is the necessity of living in the moment. Upon inspection, it is apparent that living in the moment cannot be done just for the sake of the moment as so many people suggest by the choices they make. For example, you cannot claim to be living simply because you choose to fall through the air after having jumped from a perfectly good airplane with the hope that your parachute opens! The momentary feeling of weightlessness does not, in and of itself, constitute life. Indeed, living in the moment well comes from an understanding of what the moment is for!

I was forced to use myself as an example this morning as I was thinking about a recent visit to a convalescent home. I went to offer some of my time to an elderly woman I have gotten to know but found myself full of annoyance with the expectation that she was going to be paranoid and bitter. She was this for a time and I sat back and listened to her complain without realizing that the PURPOSE of my visit at that moment was to inject LIFE into her surroundings. I was visiting a friend on the verge of death and not doing my utmost to row her away from the doldrums and into the life giving breath of The Spirit. No, I simply fell asleep on her. I couldn't even read the bible to her without dozing off. And that's the third visit in a row that has happened!

What's humbling and revealed to me a heart of transparent duty as opposed to overflowing love, is that I gave my friend the dregs of my day. I had been in school for eight hours and was exhausted. Of course I was probably going to fall asleep and fail to have the energy to take the conversation to better terrain. Life comes when it is gifted as a first fruit offering from the abundance of the heart as opposed to a last
fruit offering from what is left over. I only wanted to offer the leftovers because that is what the drudgery of duty conjures up. My next visit, therefore, will be in the morning when we are both bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Praise The Lord, for He rejoices over you with singing!

C.S. Lewis (from Reflections on the Psalms) provides an amazing perspective on why we should desire to praise Jesus, the Lover of our souls:

"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed."

It is written in Zephaniah 3:17 that,

"The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing."

He expresses His love and enjoyment for you by rejoicing over you with singing! How will you express your praise for Jesus today?