In a few short hours we will, as a nation, take a few moments and remember the events that took place 12 years ago on 9-11. I remember where I was that day, standing in my front room and watching the events unfold and when the towers began to fall I remember turning to Julie and saying “people I served with in Oklahoma City died today. Later on one of my tours of service as a Chaplain inside ground zero I met and talked with a member of the Urban Search and Rescue Team from New York City. In our conversation I learned that yes, members of the team that had worked in Oklahoma City had indeed died when the towers came down. For our family and members of our youth group, it was a surreal time because just two months earlier they had been in New York City on a Missions trip and had flown home on United flight 93 out of Newark. For many of them, the realization that they could have been the ones that were killed that day brought about many emotions. As I write this, I am reminded of very specific conversations that I had with Police Officers, Fire Fighters, members of Urban Search and Rescue Teams, the citizen’s of New York that came by the church everyday to speak to the “crisis counselor” – me. The many Christians that came and help Glad Tidings Tabernacle meet the needs of New Yorkers and that I was blessed to give the teams a “mini-seminar” on how to be effective in their outreach to the hurting. The great stories these teams would share with me when they got back to the church. Back in early July I had a phone call from one of the pastors that I met those last two weeks of September 2001. He called because God has opened doors for him to travel to the Dominican Republic to train pastors in Crisis Intervention and Ministry. He told me that he uses the resources and training I had provided all the time. His final words were “When it comes to helping people in crisis, you are my spiritual father and It is because of you, I get to do all this work.” Julie and I have always believed that our job was to “work ourselves out of a job”. I can not go every where or respond to every crisis BUT if I can teach others “how to” than I believe that I am fulfilling the Great Commission because Jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them all that I have commanded you . . . On this, the anniversary of 9-11 may we each use the gifts God has given us to work in the Harvest Field and in the honor of those who gave their lives on 9-11 may we fulfill Paul’s statement to the church in Corinth “I will gladly spend and be spent for your lives.”
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 05:03:03 +0000
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