Hey everybody, time for a quick coffee break in the Bible.
Today of course is 9-11, the anniversary of a very tragic event.
Like many of you who were alive at the time, I remember exactly where I was.
I was standing watch in Okinawa, Japan where I was stationed in the Marine Corps, there on Camp Panson.
We were dealing with the fallout from a typhoon.
If I recall correctly, I believe it was Typhoon Nari.
I could be mistaken on that, but nonetheless, I remember exactly where I was.
I was standing watch during that typhoon in Okinawa.
For many of you, it's the same. You remember exactly where you were.
This is one of those things that unfell before us.
It just left us standing there to coin the phrase shock and awe.
We're just like, wow, what is going on?
However, Ephesians 5, 16 sums it up nicely.
The Bible says, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.
By referring to the days as being evil, what Paul is telling us is that we need to be on our toes
because of how hard at work evil is.
We need to have that sense of urgency as we go and be watchful.
Things are hard enough as it is, but when we know Satan is coming after us,
it's all the more reason to keep a high standard,
to make sure that we're doing things the smartest way that we can,
the most efficient way that we can, and doing the best that we can,
treating people the best that we can, doing the most good that we can,
helping others out. Think about it.
9-11, yes, it's a horrible, tragic moment.
It's one of those that sticks with us, just like Pearl Harbor, the Marine Barracks,
and Beirut and several others, depending on where you were in your life at that time.
If you think about it, what happened in the aftermath?
Aside from war, what came of it?
There was a period of time when color, when race, stopped mattering.
What political side you fell on no longer mattered.
All the petty garbage that proliferates things again, none of it mattered anymore.
It was that time when people, much like now, didn't even know their neighbors,
but people suddenly came together again and remembered what was important,
and everyone as a nation came together as one nation.
It's very important that we remember that, and that we remember this event,
that we remember how we should act, how we should respond to things,
not with anger, but with love and with hope.