Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, ‘I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.’”
John 8:12 (NIV)The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?
When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
Psalm 27: 1-2 (NLT)“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1: 4-5 (RSV)“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40: 29-31 (ESV)
It was a day and time of darkness. Of uncertainty. A time of horrific loss.
And a time when heroes stood, and rose up.
And a time where the Light, the foundation of our lives and Nation, remained.
It was a cool, sunny Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, when my bride Lynda reached me by phone.
“A plane has crashed into one of the Towers of the World Trade Center…”
Accident? We didn’t know. We prayed. Then hung up.
Minutes later my phone rang again. Lynda’s faint voice trembled as she said—
“A second plane…has hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center…”
We cried and prayed together through our numbness.
The reports continued—the Pentagon was smoldering after a plane flew into it, another plane had crashed in an empty field somewhere in Somerset County, near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Emotions across the Nation and world swirled in confusion, anger, and grief.
Through tears we dug deep for something to cling to, something good, anything, a direction, a faint glimmer of hope.
This week leading to the weekend of remembrance, and the days after that, are a time to stand, and to rise.
With the Light.
A curtain of darkness lowered over us in that moment twenty-five years ago.
A darkness which has overwhelmed us at times throughout history in so many other ways and places. In our personal lives, as well. And as it has occurred before, it no doubt will occur again.
Placing before us, once again—a time to stand, and to rise.
With the Light.
In the midst of rhetoric and actions of some today who seek to change, lessen, and destroy who we are as a Nation and people—it is time together to stand, and to rise.
With the Light.
As we remember all those who lost their lives that day in those horrific acts of cowardice, all those others who gave their lives that day in noble acts of courage, and all those who have stood in the gap for us throughout our history, it is time to stand, and to rise.
With the Light.
In his remarks at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance on Friday, September 14, 2001, just three days after those cowardly attacks on our Nation taking the lives of 2,977 of our own, the late Reverend Billy Graham called us forth then, and forever when he said—
“Underneath the debris is a foundation that was not destroyed. Now we have a choice: Whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation, or whether we choose to become stronger through all of this struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation.
And I believe that we are in the process of starting to rebuild the foundation. That foundation is our trust in God.”
As we pause this week, and weekend, to remember.
Let us embrace this time to stand, and to rise. Today, together, always.
With the Light of God leading, lifting, guiding, and loving us to be all we were created to be—as a Nation, and individually.
This is a time to stand, a time to rise.
With the Light of God.
And as we do—individually and unified together once again—we will touch the face of God.
In His Name–Scott
Be blessed, strengthened to stand, lifted and encouraged to rise individually and for our Nation, as you watch and listen to this video arrangement by Michael W. Smith of his song— “There She Stands.”
