How should we remember 9/11?

September 11th holds a special place in my heart. It was a catastrophic day that changed the course of my existence. I give thanks to God for that day (not for the terror, but for the good that God wrought from the terror). I look back and think often of the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. God exalted Joseph, making him second only to Pharaoh in the kingdom of Egypt and eventually Joseph ends up saving his own brothers from famine. Upon finding out that it is Joseph whom they sold (the punishment for which is death) they seek his forgiveness to which he replies in Genesis 50:

"Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

My soul leaps at this statement because it fits me precisely. About a year after joining the Marines on October 4th, 2001 (because of 9/11) I gave my life to Jesus and asked His forgiveness for my sins and the way I had lived my selfish life. I saw that though wicked men had meant the terror attacks of that fateful day for evil, God had used it for my gain and saved my life.

The anger, fear and loathing I felt in those days has been replaced by a foundation of love, trust and hope in Christ so that I may now repeat after the Psalmist in chapter 91:

³ Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

I say all this to suggest that you remember 9/11 not for the violence of the day, but for the heroism of the human heart that was exposed in so many people. Search your heart for those qualities you saw that made you proud and emulate them: The sacrifice people made when they laid down their lives for their friends and strangers, the firefighters and police who climbed the stairs into the inferno, the military personnel who served, the ones who lined up for blocks to donate blood, money, teddy bears and anything else that would bring healing and comfort. Remember the flags that flew from car windows, off of bridges and out of windows. Remember the smiles, nods, handshakes and conversations we had with strangers in those following weeks when we all saw with clarity the importance and need of a loving community.

For you Christians, remember the call from 1 Peter 2 and be that community others would seek to join in the face of distress and calamity:

"...you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light... Keep your conduct among [unbelievers] honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God... For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God."

Keep the faith, do not be afraid and never lose hope. We do God's work and He has already won!

Love and sacrifice.

^{Hebrews 12:2-3}
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 13:15-16
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

For the past couple months, I've been mulling over some things that happened during Christmas. I was given a deeper understanding Jesus' life while with my grandparents in Colorado. My grandpa is in his 90's and really falling apart. He's had a couple of bad falls (are there any good ones?) and his shoulder was the size of a grapefruit. His back and chest were hurting in a number of places, too. I found all this out within minutes of my arrival and my mom immediately gave me the opportunity (voluntold me) to rub pain numbing cream on his torso. Helping my grandpa in this way was definitely out of my comfort zone especially after a six-hour drive. Still, I made a joke with him that I would be willing to wash his feet also if he asked. When I said that, I was struck with the thought that, for the most part, true love does not simply encompass romance or constitute a feeling. Love is a means by which we often sacrifice our own comfort and standing in order to do what is best for others.

It wasn't my desire to rub ointment on my grandfather but when I saw the thankfulness in his eyes and accepted his profuse thanks my heart changed. God gave me a better understanding of what Christ did for all of His children. I had met his need and that was of great importance. This, in turn, helped me to appreciate all that my own mom had done for her parents. She was getting pretty worn out from spending so much time taking care of them. It was a little difficult because, in part, they realized the burden my mom and her other siblings were bearing and seemed of the mind, at times, that it might just be best to move on from this life. I'm not sure how much conviction lied behind my grandparents' words when they were briefly mentioned, but I knew that my mom needed encouragement to continue blessing her parents.

I was able to pull my mom aside one day and let her know that all she was doing was worth it. In her loving service, she was giving dignity and honor to her parents in a way that she herself had received from them when she was just a child unable to care for herself. She was also teaching her parents, who were no longer self-sufficient, that there is great honor in accepting unconditional love when it is offered. My grandparent's acceptance of my mom's free love offering returned dignity to her because, though giving a gift is wonderful, a person must still receive it with a full heart for it to have its complete value. She met their needs and comforted them and, in return, everyone was able to see the love of Jesus as though He were receiving our suffering and giving us His love at that very moment.

Freaking Ants (part two)!

My previous blog about ants reminded me of a blog I wrote in October of last year. Let me see if I can scrounge it up for you for it is quite funny (uncomfortable though it was for me):

Tickling my brain

"This morning I woke up with my brain tickling. Not only was it like the itch you can't scratch, it was like the itch you can't scratch that hurts really badly if you even think about scratching it. I think it was about 1:30 am when I noticed it. I was slowly brought back to consciousness in a most unpleasant manner. The sensation got worse and worse until about 20 minutes later I desperately jumped out of bed to plunge my ear with a cue tip. Amazingly, a little black ant was all the way back in my ear canal. It had been marching on my ear drum as if it were a parade deck!

With my sleep interrupted as it was, I was really tired at work all day. When I got back to the house, I decided to take a nap. No more than 20 minutes into my nap my nose started to itch as if the feather dusters of the world had united and shoved themselves into my nostrils. I'm not joking when I say that for the second time in one day an ant had found its way into my face. It felt like the itch you get in your nose before you sneeze (though this one burned)...and it didn't go away! I was finally able to get the ant out of my nose but now I'm terrified of going to sleep tonight..."

Other than that, a couple of other interesting things about ants popped up onto my radar. A writer on the blog site Open Salon (Tim Cordle to be precise) made an interesting point behind the meaning of sacrifice. On sacrifice for personal gain (a homicide bomber gaining their harem in heaven) he says, "Whatever a terrorist believes about his or her just cause, the altruism of their act is considerably diminished by virtue of the fact that by committing such atrocities they hope to guarantee a special reward in the hereafter. That is hardly a selfless act."

On sacrifice for the gain of others he provides the example of a specific type of ant mentioned by the December 2008 Smithsonian:

The Collective Good

"Scientists in Brazil have observed an unusual act of selflessness. When Forelius ants retire for the night, one or more workers remain outside the colony, kicking sand to seal the entrance. If that protects those within from predators or rain, it also dooms the outside ants to die overnight of exposure. It's the first known case of "pre-emptive self-sacrifice" among insects."

To make his point about sacrifice, Cordle compares the two forms of sacrifice and their worth: "No, a true selfless act is that of the ant that barricades itself outside the nest and expects nothing for its sacrifice but death. For at least as far as we know, there is no Paradise in the metaphysics of ants."

To read Cordle's blog in its entirety is to read a post disclaiming religion because it does not provide for a form of sacrifice that is selfless. This is where he drops the ball, not having spiritual eyes to see with. My challenge to him would be to tell me how the sacrifice of Christ was in any way selfish. The scriptural proof I give to show how others-centered Christ's sacrifice was I present Hebrews 12:2-3:

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The joy of Christ was to be with His Father in heaven, in perfect fellowship with His children whom He lived, died and rose again for, forever. AMEN!

Hope amidst the hopelessness.

I have often wondered what the Christian church would be like nowadays if it were just coming out of the system of laws and ceremonies that God had established prior to the New Covenant. To be obligated to commit sacrifices for every personal sin at one's own expense would be a difficult burden to bear. Then to know that the high priest once a year would still have to go make intercession for sins by entering into God's presence behind the veil of the Holy of Holies... Where would our hope be? What would be the purpose of our sacrifice? All it could show us was our poverty of spirit. However, what else could give us cause to trust in Christ were we not destitute?

I would feel dispossessed knowing that there was no sacrifice capable of being given by me that would be able to cleanse me of my blood guilt. God desires mercy over sacrifice but I am not merciful. How great my need for a Savior Messiah is! To know that God looks at my heart and finds my sacrifice useless should be crushing but, Oh! To know that He looks at Christ's heart and finds him pleasing for us!

God, in love, gave His Son to be our scapegoat in order that He could bring to fruition His scripture in Romans 12:1 where it is written, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Through Christ's merciful and deathly sacrifice, we may now live mercifully: A sacrifice of life. We love because He first loved us!

Because of this love, I can share with you some bits of the horror stories from the Rwandan genocide and how God's love has enabled murderers to find forgiveness from God and victims to forgive those who murdered their families. These glimpses into evil (and good's power to overcome it) come from Christianity Today in an article entitled "Reconcilable Differences."

When the killings began, [Felicita] Mukabakunda, a Tutsi, hid in nearby marshes while [Marc] Sahabo and other Hutus went on their rampage. She overheard them say that they planned to take turns raping her before killing her. She also heard Sahabo say he had killed her father, her uncle, and four other family members.

[Surviving the genocide] Mukabakunda learned that 29 family members-including 16 brothers and sisters-had been murdered.

Felicita speaks of the hatred she harbored in her heart towards Marc and how she wanted him to die a "slow, painful death," preferably at her hands. Facing this hatred that works in the hearts of both groups of tribesman, Theo Mushinzimana, the in-country director of Rwanda Partners (RP) says, "When you have a Tutsi who has forgiven, this is huge. It's a process that requires great truth-truth that only God's Word can make possible."

A Rwandan Anglican priest by the name of Nyirindekwe Celestin tells of confession and reconcilitation only being possible through Christ:

It's very hard to forgive a killer. It takes power from above to transform a person. Our main focus isn't to tell people to forgive, but ot accept Jesus as their Savior, and let him transform you. Only then can you forgive.

One program of reconciliation invites the victims and perpetrators without either knowing that they will meet together face-to-face. It is part of the healing process as the victims are able to pour out 15 years of pent up hatred and, under the watchful eye of local police, takes most of the first day. The arbitrator of this program, Rugirangoga, says, "The killers do not say anything. They are insulted and spat upon, but they keep quiet, because they feel guilty, and they want these people to forgive them."

This takes us back to Marc Sahabo and Mukabakunda Felicita. Felicita was encouraged on numerous occasions by her brother to forgive Marc for the murder of her family. The soil of Marc's heart had been plowed by the Spirit and he came seeking forgiveness. He says, "My heart was changed by Jesus. I wanted to ask the victims for forgiveness, to tell them I was no longer the killer they used to know."

When they finally met face to face, Sahabo got down on his knees before Mukabakunda, folded his hands, confessed his crimes, and begged for mercy. Mukabakunda put her hand on his shoulder, looked him in the eyes, and said simply, "I forgive you."

Sahabo felt like he "just came out of a shower, a clean man, except it was like a holy shower, because I felt clean on the inside." For Mukabakunda, a heavy burden lifted, and the migraine headaches and nightmares she had suffered for ten years immediately disappeared and have not returned.

Marc and Felicita are now best friends and their families spend much time with one another. The two friends now ride a bike between villages sharing the story of the power of God's grace and His healing power.

"I'm not scared of him anymore," says Mukabakunda. "Without Jesus, I'd go back to hating Marc. But because of Jesus, I have forgiven Marc, and I love him now."

From the heart.

Beauty that flows from the heart makes the entire person beautiful inside and out. Beauty is not defined by the outward appearance of a person but rather a mixture of qualities that bless other people. Asymmetry of features, beautiful hair, shiny nails, glossy lips, soft skin and the like mixed with contention and hatred do not a beautiful combination make. A countenance that shines with the light of peace, humility, compassion, joy and love is much more to be desired. Yet, these qualities that pour forth from the heart are not to be obtained by the natural man. We do not have the ability to quell the dissensions within our souls. It is not within our power to end the lusts, jealousies, hatreds and disgusts we have for such things as the wicked desire for another person, the aggravating success of a neighbor, the wounds of a friend who became an enemy, or the quirks of a parent or sibling who drives us crazy.

The video I show gives a good description of what must take place within us. We must be given the capability to reveal true beauty from a heart that has so often been lost in self-doubt and pity. Whereas the video shows the beautification of a the outward appearance, the need for a reformation of our heart is much more difficult and necessary. Who among you can point to your heart and successfully say, "Heart, I don't like the way you've been acting so you will change this instant"? We cannot remake the heart that so often strives against what is right. The truth is that it must be remade for us by One who is able to transform the soul.



WARNING (FOR MEN): The video is meant primarily for women who happen to read this post. Most guys don't care about their outward appearance so much since they fart, scratch and belch in public. For a man to be told that "there could never be a more beautiful you" would be far too sappy to acknowledge. I would encourage any man who thinks of watching this to have a daughter or a close relationship with a beloved female! Only then will you have the wisdom necessary for understanding!

Regardless of gender, the Gospel is this: God made us His children and cared for us from the womb. He fed and clothed us and protected us and yet we turned our hearts from Him (Deut. 32:1-18). Being holy, He turned His face from us and pronounced a curse upon mankind that we would bear the wounds of our sins and face judgment (Deut. 32:19-26). Yet, He did not deal with us according to our iniquities. He called us His inheritance and His portion and, according to His everlasting kindness, claimed Himself as the atonement for our sins so that He could have the glory in leading us away from our captivity to wickedness and death (Deut. 32:43). All of this He did by coming in the form of a man and living the only perfect life of any person on earth, in accordance with the law. He gave Himself up to suffer an unjust death to take our sins upon Himself so that the Scripture would be proven in Revelation 5 where it is written:

¹Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. ²And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?" ³But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. ⁴I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. ⁵Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

⁶Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. ⁸And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
¹⁰You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth."

¹¹Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. ¹²In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" ¹⁴The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.