That Awful Day

This September there is a white elephant in the room every time I see the date. 1 September 2011, 2 September 2011, 3 September 2011, the ten year anniversary (anniversary suggests something you want to remember, I'd like to make a new word for bad 'anniversaries') of the terrorist attacks in New York on 11 September 2001.
I am someone who struggles to remember what I did last weekend let alone ten years ago but everyone old enough to remember has what they were doing that day etched into their memories for life. I remember coming home to my Mum watching it on the TV and seeing the second tower fall. I think I watched the News for the rest of the day, shocked by what was transpiring in front of me.

This week there are stories from survivor and eyewitnesses on the day and it is very harrowing and tragedy like this happening to innocent victims makes me want to cry. I hope it never happens again.

Events like this are what make many people sit up and ask 'Where is God in this?' 'Where was He?'.
In the emotion of the occasion we forget that terrible things happen every day, and just because it is all over the news doesn't make it any worse than the thousands dying of starvation in Somalia or the man who murdered people in that Labour Party Camp in Sweden.

Bad things happen, different people have differing views on what is bad and only one opinion can truly carry authority, that of a true Higher Power. God. In the Bible, it is clear that bad things began to happen when sin came into the world, when Adam & Eve corrupted the world by disobeying God's only instruction in the Garden of Eden.

This world is broken and it wasn't God's fault. God went on to pay the price for sin and offer us a new life in Heaven when we die. No more tears, no more pain.

I am comforted by the book of Job, when God responds to Job basically telling him that he knows so little about the workings of this world. God is in control because He is the only One who knows the beginning from the end.

I am comforted by knowing that there IS justice. When those bombers hit the Towers and died, they didn't meet a God who wanted to congratulate them like Bin Laden told them they would (if it was so great, why didn't Osama do it?). They met a God who burns with anger at the sight of evil, that punishes all sin that isn't forgiven. God is Just and they got exactly what they deserved.

Thinking about where God was in this, I saw an touching article on the BBC the other day written by a man called Artie Van Why.

This is something he said in that article:- (which you can read here)

"I don't believe I had witnessed the wrath of anyone's God that morning. What I had been a witness to when I looked up at those burning towers was the ultimate evil that man is capable of. The evidence of just how deep hatred could run, how far it could go. But I had also been a witness to something else that day - down on the ground. I witnessed the ultimate goodness of man, the evidence of how strong courage could be, to what lengths it would go. I believe God was in the hands of everyone who reached out to someone else. He was in the arms of people on the streets as they embraced one another. He was in the tears of strangers who cried together. He was in all the lives that were given in the line of duty, in the acts of heroism. He was in the hearts of the people across the country who, as they watched the horror from afar, felt compassion."

I found this very comforting as well, that God is always at work in every situation. As Romans 8:28 boldy states -

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Jesus Freak

I'm having a period right now where I feel a bit dry. I look back at days gone by and wonder where the passion and love for Jesus has gone. It is easy to be discouraged and make bad decisions.


My encouragement for myself and anyone else going through this is...DON'T DO IT!


You may think one bad decision doesn't hurt too much...but it does! One bad decision leads to another leads to another and all of a sudden you are in a place you never wanted to be but feel you are trapped in it (you are not, there is ALWAYS a way out and God's Hand is stretching out to grab you).


God is Faithful, God doesn't let us down, God delivers. I saw that clearly reading the Bible this week. In Esther, Haman wanted to kill off all the Jews. But it just so happened that God has Esther, a Jew, as Queen to be able to influence the King to stop this. Esther's Uncle and Guardian, Mordecai, put it like this..


Esther 4:14
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?


But, of course, my passion and love for Jesus hasn't gone. It is as strong as ever. I'm just like the rest of mankind, I doubt myself and I am not fully faithful to God all the time.


But PRAISE the LORD for this verse...


2 Timothy 2:13
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.


We are not perfect and for the rest of our lives we never will be BUT God is so Good and He always will be.


<3