Almost Fall
Job 9:23-24
“When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges.
If it is not he, then who is it?”
After what seemed a frantic first couple of months a welcome sense of normalcy returned to our family. School was back in session. Fall, my favorite season was just a few weeks away We had made plans; logistics were in place, change was accepted and expected. “P” was working from home I was working outside of it. “P” was scheduled to go to one more seminar with her partner. It was an adjuster’s conference and the high point of that years marketing effort. Her Doctor was ok with the trip as they flew instead of drove to Richmond. So off she went that morning at around 4:30 Am., just after I left for work.
I enjoyed my job. There was something about spending other people’s money that appealed to me. The early hours were not as bad as I had cleared my slate. It afforded me the chance to be home by 3:30pm. I knew I was going to have to leave but I just had a hard time admitting it to my boss Mike who had learned to depend on my ability to ferret out needed resources and stock up special parts.
“P’s” mom stayed over to get the girls off to school so I settled into my day counting and entering stock levels, placing requests for prices and generating P.O. numbers for purchase. In the world’s largest bread plant with ovens suitable for any style of loaf to be produced in the tens of thousands each shift finding a cool spot was hard. I was blessed. I was in the office in the air conditioning on my computer married to my phone. Plants across Canada and the United States e-mailed back and forth checking each others inventories for suddenly important parts. It was cozy and friendly and then the line supervisor burst into the office roaring about the radio. I had a radio on top my computer where I would indulge my right-wing propensities at lunch time. After all I had worked in A.M. radio years back and the Talk Radio resurrection of A.M. was close to my heart.
He shouted “Someone flew a plane into the world trade center! Turn on your radio!” The radio overflowed with rehashes of the news. I ran for the conference room where we had a cable TV hook up. I joined about six Department heads and corporate types standing there slack jawed. There on the screen was the smoldering tower. Not sixty seconds later the second plane slammed into the other tower.
Now I had been a in the Navy as a missile fire control tech. I had more than a passing interest in air defense. I knew where a bunch of the bases were and who NORAD was. I knew a snowball was rolling that would soon be a coast to coast sky wide crackdown. Then I remembered “P” was in the air this clear nearly fall day. Richmond Virginia via Washington D.C. Suddenly the screen shifted to the Pentagon.
Prayer and Ponderance
Find a minute or two to remember.
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12
Mark 4:37-38
1 Thessalonians 5:3
Psalm 48:4-6
Where were you that sad morning?
In the midst of sudden tragedy who gets the blame?
Was God on vacation that day?
Did a false assurance of military strength and a staunch stance of pacifism conflict and combine in the U.S. to help make 911 so unexpectedly shocking?
Has the world changed personally, politically or emotionally for you?
Can you express how?
What was birthed that day?
Do you have an assured view of eternity?
Would you like to have one?
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