"Is this Normal?"
[Written by author, Max Lucado]
Four thousand gathered for mid-day prayer in a downtown cathedral. A New
York City church, filled and emptied six times last Tuesday. The owner of a
Manhattan tennis shoe store threw open his doors and gave running shoes to
those fleeing the towers. People stood in lines to give blood, in hospitals
to treat the sick, in sanctuaries to pray for the wounded.
America was different this week. We wept for people we did not know. We sent
money to families we've never seen. Talk-show hosts read Scriptures,
journalists printed prayers. Our focus shifted from fashion hemlines and box
scores to orphans and widows and the future of the world.
We were different this week. Republicans stood next to Democrats. Catholics
prayed with Jews. Skin color was covered by the ash of burning towers.
This is a different country than it was a week ago.
We're not as self-centered as we were. We're not as self-reliant as we were.
Hands are out. Knees are bent. This is not normal. And I have to ask the
question, "Do we want to go back to normal?"
Are we being given a glimpse of a new way of life? Are we, as a nation,
being reminded that the enemy is not each other and the power is not in
ourselves and the future is not in our bank accounts?
Could this unselfish prayerfulness be the way God intended for us to live
all along? Maybe this, in his eyes, is the way we are called to live.
And perhaps the best response to this tragedy is to refuse to go back to
normal.
Perhaps the best response is to follow the example of Tom Burnet. He was a
passenger of flight 93. Minutes before the plane crashed in the fields of
Pennsylvania he reached is wife by cell phone. "We're all going to
die," he
told her, "but there are three of us who are going to do something
about it."
We can do something about it as well. We can resolve to care more. We can
resolve to pray more. And we can resolve that, God being our helper, we'll
never go back to normal again.
Posted by "ExperiencingGodDaily":
"So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
"All who rage against you will surely be ashamed
and disgraced;
those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
Though you search for your enemies, you will not find
them.
Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at
all.
"For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,
Do not fear; I will help you."
[Isaiah 41:10-13 NIV]
When passing this item on to others, please include the
following information:
Thank you!
