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writerdad
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 448

Posted 9/17/2001 6:22 AM (GMT -6)

This week has given pause, and within my pause and the accompancying despair God has graciously brought some things to my attention that I thought I would share...
1) we all die. I know, I know, but as Christians we are called to give up our lives. We in america sometimes act as if this is the most important thing that will happen to us, that this life is it. But we are to a greater plan, a greater kingdom. If the God who created all truly did die in the person of Jesus Christ, we need to take our calling as Christians seriously. Take prayer seriously, as though it can truly change things.
2) God never answers why bad things happens, but rather affirms his presense and shows us how to respond. He adknowledges our grief as real, but expects us to continue to follow the calling he has given us.
3) We should adknowledge that what we see as our future may not be what God has in mind for us. It may be that I will not publish the book I have been writing, but tomorrow I may be called to die. It may be that I won't be around to see my children's graduation, or it may be that I will see all this. Whatever, we should learn that God loves us and calls us to a future that, while totally the best for us, is not what we have in mind. This is something i have struggled with and continue to do so.
4) The ordinary has a godly presense to it. Playing with my kids has taken on a great aura to it this week as I realize how short life can become. I am trying to plan the future while realizing I live only in this moment.
5) We are part of this world. While this attack was probably the greatest terrorist attack on any nation, is it more devastating than attacks that were smaller yet were perpetrated on nations smaller than us? I think we tend to isolate ourselves and act as if we are not part of the world. Well, we are and now we must try and respond in a manner God would have us respond.
Pray. The average individual can do nothing more than that. But think about this. IF prayer is true and what you are doing IS talking to the God who formed the oceans who made our sun, who made stars we could never possibly reach, what is more important than that?
A final thought: yesterday, as I watched my car I reflected on how things had changed, how bleak in many ways I thought my children's future might be. Then I thought about the Afgan people, running towards a border being closed by Iran. People who have children like mine, who, like me, just work a job and do ordinary things. They have probably thought this thought every couple of years. Much of this is plain sad. The people mourning in New York for their loss and the people in Afgan struggling to survive are caught between a political battle and the thing I can do is pray. May God reach out and bring a miracle to this situation. John 17:3 Harold

trosie
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 550

Posted 9/17/2001 6:18 PM (GMT -6)

Harold,
I totally agree with what you wrote. A few weeks back God really let it "land" on my heart that this world is just a temporary stopping ground. In a few short years (be it 2, 10, or even 100 years) we will all pass on from this reality to the reality we were created for. The pain, the tragedy, the suffering of this world is temporary BUT our choice is eternal.

I'm only passing through.
trosie

Edited by - trosie on 09/17/2001 11:19:21 PM

trosie
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 550

Posted 9/18/2001 2:14 AM (GMT -6)

Here's a COOL story from religiontoday. crosswalk.com I believe this story fits under the heading "Reflections from the damage" It's a long read but well worth the time because it's an uplifting testimony to the power prayer can have:

Surviving the 81st Floor of World Trade Tower Two

A testimony of God's hand of protection amidst tragedy

Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, began like any other day for Bethel Assembly of
God deacon and Sunday school superintendent Stanley Praimnath of Elmont,
Long Island. He got up early, took a shower, prayed, got ready and
headed for work. The drive was uneventful. The train ride was the same.
Yet, this day he would see the hand of God spare his life.

"For some particular reason, I gave the Lord a little extra of myself
that morning [during prayer]," Stanley said. "I said, 'Lord, cover me
and all my loved ones under your precious blood.' And even though I said
that and believed it, I said it over and over and over."

When Stanley arrived at World Trade Center Tower Two, he took the
elevator up to his office on the 81st floor. "I work for the Fuji Bank
Limited," he said. "I'm an assistant vice president in the loans
operations department. The company is located on the 79th through 82nd
floors."

Stanley greeted Delise, a woman who had arrived before him. After
talking briefly, he headed over to his desk and picked up his phone to
retrieve his messages.

"As I'm standing there retrieving my messages, I'm looking out at the
next building, One World Trade, and I saw fire falling through from the
roof," Stanley said. "Now, this entire building is surrounded by glass,
and you can stand up and from there you can see all the buildings,
planes and everything flying at the same altitude."

As Stanley saw "fire balls" coming down, his first reaction was to think
of his boss who works in that building. He decided to try to call him to
see if he was OK. "I'm dialing his number, and getting no response. So,
I say to Delise, the temp, 'Go, go, go -- let's get out.'"

Delise and Stanley got on the elevator and went down to the 78th floor.
Some other people were there. The company's president, the CEO, the
human resources director and two other men joined the group and headed
down to the concourse level of Two World Trade Center.

If they had continued on and exited the building, all of their lives
would have been spared. As it was, that's not the way it happened.

"As soon as we reached the concourse level, the security guard stopped
us and said, 'Where are you going?' Stanley explained about seeing the
fire in Tower One. According to Stanley, the guard said, "Oh, that was
just an accident. Two World Trade is secured. Go back to your office."

That turned out to be fatal advice -- aside from Stanley, Delise was the
only one of that group to survive.

"We were joking, and I told [Human Resources Director] Brian Thompson,
'This is a good time to think of relocating this building -- it's not
safe anymore.'" Stanley headed back to his office, but before he got
there, he told Delise, that with the events of the day, she should go
home and relax.

Thompson went to the 82nd floor, the president and CEO went to the 79th
floor and Stanley got out on the 81st floor. When Stanley got to his
office, his phone was ringing. "It was someone from Chicago calling to
find out if I'm watching the news," he said. He told the caller
everything "was fine."

But everything wasn't fine -- far from it. As Stanley was talking, he
looked up and saw United Air Lines Flight 175 heading straight for him.

"All I can see is this big gray plane, with red letters on the wing and
on the tail, bearing down on me," said Stanley. "But this thing is
happening in slow motion. The plane appeared to be like 100 yards away,
I said 'Lord, you take control, I can't help myself here.' "

Stanley then dove under his desk. "My Testament [Bible] was on top of my
desk," explained Stanley. "I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the
Lord was going to take care of me once I got there." As he curled into a
fetal position under his desk, the plane tore into the side of the
building and exploded.

Miraculously, Stanley was unhurt. However, he could see a flaming wing
of the plane in the doorway of his department. He knew he needed to get
out of his office and the building fast. But, he was trapped under
debris up to his shoulders.

"Lord, you take control, this is your problem now," he recalled praying.
"I don't know where I got this power from, but the good Lord, He gave me
so much power and strength in my body that I was able to shake
everything off. I felt like I was the strongest man alive."

All the while, Stanley was asking the Lord to spare his life. "I'm
crying and I'm praying, 'Lord, I have things to do. I want to see my
family, Lord, help me through.'"

Stanley's office resembled a battle zone -- walls flattened into dusty
heaps, office equipment strewn violently, flames flickering about and
rubble everywhere.

"Everything I'm trying to climb on [to get out] is collapsing and I'm
going down," he said. "I'm getting cuts and bruises, but I'm saying,
'Lord, I have to go home to my loved ones, I have to make it, You have
to help me.' "

Suddenly Stanley saw the light of a flashlight. For a moment, it stunned
him. "What were the chances of someone bringing a flashlight to this
floor?" he thought. "My first gut reaction was, 'This is my guardian
angel -- my Lord sent somebody to save me!' "

Stanley began screaming, "I see the light, I see the light." But after
clawing his way through the debris, he realized that he couldn't get out
- all the exits were blocked and his "guardian angel" couldn't get to
him--a wall was between him and the staircase. "He can't get to me and I
can't get to him, and by this time I can't breathe," Stanley said. "I
don't know if it was sulfur or what [burning jet fuel, perhaps], but I
can smell this thing. I got down on my knees and said, "Lord, you've got
to help me. You've brought me this far, help me to get to the
staircase."

But then Stanley did something surprising. While praying on his knees,
he called out to the man behind the wall, "There's one thing I got to
know, do you know Jesus?" The man replied he went to church every
Sunday. Then they prayed together to enable them to break through the
wall.

"I got up, and I felt as if a power came over me," said Stanley. "I felt
goose bumps all over my body and I'm trembling, and I said to the wall,
'You're going to be no match for me and my Lord.' " Moments later, he
punched his way through the wall and, with the help of the man on the
other side, was able to squirm his way through the hole in the wall.
"The guy held me and embraced me and he gave me a kiss and he said,
'From today, you're my brother for life.' "

But the danger wasn't over. The man on the other side of the wall, who
introduced himself as Brian, was an older man and they still had 81
floors to walk down, with the building on fire and, unknown to them, in
danger of collapse. "We hobbled our way down, and at every floor we
stopped to see if anybody was there, but nobody was, except a man was on
the floor, and his back was gone, and he was covered in blood."

Stanley asked to be allowed to carry the man out, but a security guard
told him it would be better to send somebody up. When they finally made
it down to the concourse, only firefighters were there. "They were
saying, 'Run! Run! Run!', they were telling us to run out, but they were
not concerned about themselves," he said.

Stanley and Brian would have run from the building, but now the
concourse was surrounded with fire. Wetting themselves under the
building's sprinkler system, they held hands and ran through the flames
to safety at Trinity Church, about two blocks away. "I wanted to go to
the church to thank God," Stanley explained, "As soon as I held onto the
gate of that church, the building [World Trade Center Tower Two]
collapsed."

Stanley and Brian made their way safely out of the danger area. Before
they parted, Stanley gave his business card to Brian in hopes of contact
at a later time, and said, "If I don't see you, I'll see you in heaven."

Cut and bloodied, with clothes tattered and wearing a borrowed shirt,
Stanley finally made it home hours later to his wife, Jennifer, and his
two girls, Stephanie, 8, and Caitlin, 4. "I held my wife and my two
children and we cried," said Stanley. After thanking God for sparing his
life, Stanley told God whatever he did, it will always be for His glory.
"I'm so sore, but every waking moment, I say 'Lord, had you not been in
control, I would not have made it.'

"For some divine reason, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the
good Lord's mighty hand turned the plane a fraction from where I was
standing," said Stanley. "Because when it crash-landed, it was just 20
feet from me. I don't care who would rationalize -- what people would
say now or years from now, but I know it was the handiwork of the Lord
that turned that plane. My Lord Jesus is bigger than the Trade Center
and His finger can push a plane aside!"

By Dan Van Veen, Assemblies of God News Service

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