Time Stops for No Man

The anniversary of 9/11 always reminds me of the short path we are all on. Ecclesiastes sums it up: "There is a time to be born, a time to die, ...a time to weep, a time to laugh...It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to heart."

Yesterday, I drove through the beautiful rural countryside of North Carolina, past the Peanut Festival, where a happy girl sauntered through the blocked-off streets, a gaggle of kids in tow. Balloons were inflated to be popped, popcorn was popped to be eaten and everyone was ready to have a good time. I could feel the anticipation in the cool early evening air.

I came home and flipped to the History channel and caught a show about 9/11. I was ready to relaxe, but it was hard not to watch stories about that fateful day. Last night, I felt compelled to understand and connect with the experiences of fellow New Yorkers. I was a new New Yorker then. The news of the plains crashing into the building had brought me to my knees and the news of the towers falling had brought me to the couch for hours in front of the tv, like so many others, trying to make sense of it all.

Each anniversary I allow myself to see more graphic stories and remember more pieces of how it felt to be so close. I guess I feel more removed and safer now, with a pleasant life and beautiful daughter with birthday parties to celebrate. But occassionally the retelling will still jolt me back to the horrible reality of 9/11.

This time while watching, I saw a picture of a business man jumping from a tower to his death. I am a visual person, so I quickly absorbed every essence of the snapshot. He was pulling one leg back, instinctively, I assume, to keep his balance while tumbling through the air. He was falling head first but his face was toward the ground like he was wanting to see what was coming. Ironically, he would only be able to hold onto control for a few more seconds. I surmise that he was used to maintaing some control. He looked strong and sharp in his business clothes. I am sure he was smart, having earned a place in one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan. But he was helplessly falling to his death.

I felt helpless looking at the image just like I did on 9/11. There was nothing I could do that day but pray as I felt the desperation and devestation. There was nothing he could do but watch what was coming.

I guess it is a visual of what is really happening to all of us in the larger picture of life. We are all immenently moving toward the end. The sense of slow moving eternal time on earth is only a mirage. The reality is it is just a blink in the scope of time before we die. The only hope any of us have, is to know Jesus as our ticket to eternity in a glorious place.

The good things of 9/11, the heroism, the miracles, the beautiful sky are only glimpses of the good things to come for people that know Jesus as their Saviour. The people that jumped into the arms of their Father are no longer feeling any pain.

We would all be wise to sip the good wine of happiness and beauty but not forget the quick resolute finallity of death, to know where we are going, what the end will be; and to hold on to the goodness of a child's laugh, the mirth of a football game, a birthday party, but remember we will all die.

Some of those around us, maybe even you don't know where you are going at the end. But if you are reading this, there is still time. It may end sooner than you think. Take control of your destiny and find out about Jesus and His plan for salvation for eternity.

North Korea Threatens to Wipe Out US, Newsworthy?

Yesterday when I checked my e-mail I noticed a headline that North Korea's official news agency had threatened to "wipe out" the U.S. if we attempted to start another war. That seemed alarming to say the least, definately news-worthy. Unfortunately when I turned on the network news channels later to get information, I could only find stories about a governor out of town. OK, so surely, I thought, the threat would be front page the next day. No, it was on the very last page of the paper in the very last paragraph of the story. When I took journalism in college, they taught us to put the least important facts last.

Is it that unimportant, or does it smear the all-potent image of the media's hero? Is there starting to be a crack in Obama's foreign policies? If so, I guess we better gloss them over and photoshop them like the covers of the tabloids he graces the covers of. I can't really differentiate anymore between the tabloids and the network news.

Who cares if a governor is having an affair? I mean, it's somewhat noteworthy. I think it deserves a little blurb on the back page. But oh yeah, that's right. It's a story about one of those Republicans. The liberal media is all over that. Any story that can be used against conservatives and Christians will make top billing.

Before I turned off the tv, MSNBC had the "first homosexual exorcism caught on tape." Hmm sounds like Extra. But it does serve the agenda of making Christians and Conservatives look like lunatics, so that makes it newsworthy.

I heard that Obama gave away the location of our nuclear weapons in a press conference. I heard that ABC originally promised to give a prime time spot to coverage of the health care plan by Obama with no opposing view-points represented. Heck, I heard that he is not a natural-born citizen.

But I may never know the facts all fleshed out because the liberal media will never cover such "unimportant" news.

Don't be mistaken. Every network has an agenda. Gordon Pennington, a high-level marketing and media expert has first-hand insight into MTV's "social re-engineering" agenda to "capture the youth."

They may not be a major news outlet, but the implications don't stop there. After all, MTV and ABC are starting to have a lot in common.

Ban Eminem While We're at It

I have to say I have actually liked listening to Eminem's music in the past. I have had to clean him out of my ipod when I cleaned out explicit lirics, but he is certainly talented and honest in his work. Unfortunately, he has the same poor judgement as MTV, Sacha Baron Cohen, and TV Guide.



My preacher wisely says to not be surprised when heathens act like heathens, but I don't have to like their antics.



The fact that the "sexual assault', (see previous article) was staged does not take away from it's degrading nature. It was portrayed as a nonconsensual act, and consensual or no it was still disgusting.


I will just continually diverge farther from popular culture when it continues to diverge farther from God. Without God all men go astray; so I am not shocked, just saddened that the world my daughter will grow up in is darker and darker.

MTV and TV Guide : Abhorable, Ban Them Both

I was going through my nightly routine of brushing my teeth etc. and all I could feel was outrage and disgust. In order to try to bring something from my broiling emotions I have tried to make sense of my evenings' sickening sludge.

I had been trying to wind down after work by watching TV. I lost the remote so I watched the TV Guide channel to keep from flipping through the usual filth. Ironically while I was looking for something suitable for me and my five year old daughter, we were assaulted with a clip from the MTV movie awards.

I have already banned MTV from my TV diet since it serves up the usual snarky, amoral, goo. But before I could get up to change the TV Guide channel, I was suddenly watching an adult scene with my little girl. I don't need to give the graphic details of Sacha Baron Cohen's vulgar base act toward Eminem, but in my book, it was sexual assault. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines sexual assault as "illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent." That is what the scene looked like to me.



The fact that my daughter and I watched it against our will before I could get to the tv was another form of assault. I won't displace all guilt though. I need to seriously consider banning cable entirely.



It seems MTV thinks sexual assault is funny and entertaining. It seems the TV Guide channel thinks anyone that wants to see what is showing wants to see that filth.



Ironically I found a show to watch by Jentzen Franklin. He preached about Christians needing to take a stand in an amoral world.



Well, at the very least I can write that I disagree. Sexual assault is not entertainment and it is not funny. I have cemented in my mind that MTV is not ever worth flipping through ever. And to keep perversion out of my home, I will have to at the very least look in the newspaper for the tv line-up instead of watching the TV Guide channel.

Let God's Economy Reign

I am certainly not one to say, "I told you so," espescially when so many people are hurting financially. But there are people that went into this previous election with a full understanding of issues and chose consumerism above morality. Now we are reaping what we have sown and losing on both grounds.

Yes, I am talking about Obama again. OK, he's affable, a family man, someone I would enjoy a conversation with, just not someone I want running this country.

However, many people chose him to run this country simply on his charming qualities and his ideas about the economy. On the surface his ideas seem helpful. Everyone is looking forward to fresh cash in the immediate future but don't realize they are sacrificing long term economic vitality. I don't expect everyone to understand that. I certainly didn't until I started studying the stock market a few years ago. I don't even expect Obama to understand it. What financial experience does he have? What is funny though is that he thinks he knows more than experts that have lived and breathed the stock market and the economy for years. But that is neither here nor there.

However I do expect professing Christians to understand one thing. God's perspective, espescially on the life of unborn babies, is the most important thing, more important than the economy. When you sacrifice your own beliefs on the altar of greed and self-protection you can only expect to lose everything eventually. I know it. I have done it.

It is just unfortunate that I have heard straight from the mouth of a professing Christian that the economy is more important than abortion. Surely our bank accounts are not more important than human life!

Now that we have our "king," someone that can throw a heck of a party, he is not only throwing the baby out the window, but the bath water as well, our money. (Forgive the stretch.)

But I have hope. Maybe when we lose all material stability, we can focus on what is really important. (I have been there too.) We can look at life, and selflessness, and God and eternity, and let money and financial security be where they belong, second to God and His laws. Then we can trust Him to take care of us. He never forsakes His people. Let's turn our hearts around first and let God turn around the economy.

Deep Calls to Deep

There has been a strange sound recently. I don't know where it comes from. It is a new wind blowing through ancient trees. A new movement that echoes with the past. It blows through the winding branches of time. The trees tell the story. In their rings they hold the keys to unlock the past and the future. Each ring tells the story of floods, fire, drout, and abundance. They keep the history of the past. They also hold the echoes of ancient cries.

Energy is neither created nor destroyed. Cries, screams, whimpers of terror and injustice are forever held in the rocks and trees. Even if no-one cries out the glory of God, the rocks and trees cry out. And the glory of God is in the cries of injustice. It is everywhere. The kindgdom of God is here. We just need to percieve it.

The new sound blows through the ancient branches, beckoning them to tell the story. And all of heaven listens to the cries of one person that has been hurt, the hurt locked in a prison, waiting for someone to hear.

Cry out for the injustice of the past, and present. Sing with heaven the new sound that brings the past and present into the future, that covers the hurt and pain with strength and hope.

Reach up to your Creator. It is the only way to live. Don't cower in the darkness. Reach for the Light. The pain and sadness is swept away in the warmth of the sun's embrace.

(Italics paraphrased from a sermon by Jason Upton.)

Black Friday at Wal-Mart

I am disturbed by the recent story in the news of a Wal-Mart employee being trampled to death as he opened the door for shoppers on Black Friday. I am also disturbed that when the store was going to close for a few hours because of the death, shoppers refused to leave, complaining that they had been waiting since Thursday morning to get in. The mentality shows what they were valuing and how those values are partly responsible for taking the man’s life.

My first instinct was outrage. I thought there should be justice. The shoppers that trampled him should have to attend his funeral on Christmas instead of open their bargains. I mean, how does getting to a deal five minutes faster make up for a man’s life?

Then I was discussing the story with my brother, and he mentioned it would be hard to find out exactly who was responsible. Sometimes people are pushed along in a crowd without being able to stop. Those that were doing the pushing hopefully did not realize that someone was lying on the ground.

Some individuals did try to help but unfortunately could not save him.

So, instead of taking individuals to task I will take the group into account and society as a whole, because our values lead to this man’s death. As a group our society is focused on things, goals, and selfishness instead of other people.

Even at Christmas where we are celebrating love we lose focus. Christmas has been commercialized to mean so many things other than Jesus being born in a manger to save the world. It is ironic that He was born to lay down His life for man-kind; and in “celebrating” this, mankind was willing to trample over a man’s life.

However, the irony is symbolic. I think of ways that I rush to buy things for my daughter that will make her feel fulfilled, when what she really wants is time with me. I rush around to achieve goals and sometimes forget the people I brush aside to get there. I step over people’s feelings, to get to things, goals, sales, as ridiculous as that is.

After reading the story I quit trying to cross things off my shopping list and took a day to rest and reflect and spend time with my daughter. The deals will wait. The people are what are important.