Remembering 9/11 among Hurricane & Fire Devastation

I felt led to write a little something about remembering 9/11 as well as the current state of my country with all the hurricane and wild fire destruction going on.

I personally didn't know anyone directly affected by the 9/11 attacks.  I do know where I was when it happened and how I felt.   I was at work when it happened, when someone ran into the office area to tell us all. We all filed into the cafeteria where the news was playing to see what was going on.  The feeling of tense quiet in the room was crazy. It felt like every nerve was on fire and no one knew what to do.  We were all waiting to see what was happening.  I had to pull myself away after a little while to pull myself together and threw myself into my work, because quite frankly I didn't know what else to do.  At that time I wasn't attending a church, I did believe in God but I wasn't actively seeking him.  I was walking in the wrong direction.  That day was sobering. It made me angry and sad, it made me pray and cry.  Back then I knew about terrorism but not at this magnitude.  I had such anger toward these people that caused the attack.  I had fear and frustration, not knowing what to do next and I was safe and comfortable and not directly affected by it.  But, I think every American can say they were affected by it in someway. It was an attack on my country.  I certainly wasn't praying for the people who did it, those left behind from their deranged group or even their people group at the time.  I didn't know the difference.

As I grew in my Christian faith (especially this year with my series on How to Pray for Muslims during Ramadan, Followup 1, How to Pray for ISIS-Followup 2 & Wrap Up on How to Pray for ISIS) I found myself understanding radicalism within different religious organizations.  I found myself no longer grouping people into people groups for this type of reason.  Rather I saw people as God see us all, as children of God-if you accept him into your heart.

My husband and I took a trip through NYC in 2014 and we made sure to visit the Memorial, this picture below doesn't do it justice.  The sheer awesomeness of the gaping whole was humbling and made me shiver with thoughts of what those people must have gone through.  We took a walking tour where they showed us the the memorial for the firefighters that gave their lives in their efforts to assist others.  As well as St Paul's Church that wasn't touched during the whole thing, where people came to volunteer after
the attacks.

In the world we live in today it's hard not to see the violence when we are surrounded by it almost daily.  If we personally aren't affected, we see it splattered all over the news. And if violence from terrorism wasn't enough, it's among our own.  Racism, hatred, division.  The video and song below: We all Bleed the Same spoke so much to me the other day about division and hatred.  Listen to the lyrics, they are amazing and full of truth.

While remembering 9/11, our country was in the midst of cleaning up after Hurricane Harvey in Texas & Louisiana and trying to batten down the hatches for Hurricane Irma in Florida and all those islands to it's South.  I do have to say through it all it's interesting how when tragedy strikes we seem to stop thinking about color and differences and pull together as a nation to help one another.  

Could it be coincidence that it happened?  Sure.  

Could it have been intentional for God?  I know some of you are cringing right now.... Yes, He could have sent those Hurricanes, we've seen destruction at his hand before in the bible.  I know that we would like to think that he wouldn't do something as devastating as this, I know I struggle with this, but the Bible is full of examples of it.  

Could it be global warming?  Sure, I am guessing that due to the fact that we trash our world on a minute by minute basis that we are going to end up with some serious consequences.

What I say though, is that no matter the cause, the result is people helping one another. We don't have time to fight with each other when we are reaching out a hand to pull people from destruction.

If you would like to help in the wake of these recent hurricanes and don't know what to do?

1. Ask your church if they are doing anything special with other local churches and maybe pairing with some churches in the affected area.

2.  There are ways of going to help if that is something you want to look into under Convey of Hope Field Teams

3.  You can donate your money and/or blood to the American Red Cross

3a. Now, here you might be saying to yourself "I don't have the extra money."  Read my blog here on making a budget before you donate.

4.  You can also donate to a Christian based Charity called Convoy of Hope

5.  Last but not least, pray for the people affected by these tragedies.  Think about what it would be like to be in their shoes and pray for them like you would pray for yourself or people close to you.

Remember 

Even though you may think your one time donation, your monthly donation, your prayers, your blood donation isn't enough, IT IS!  These people are in for the long haul. If you gave $5.00 a month to one of the above charities for a year or more that would make a difference.  Because you aren't the only ones who can't do much.  If 100,000 people donated $5 a month, that would be 1/2 Million dollars a month!!!!!!!  For a yearly commitment would bring it to 6 Million in a year.  That's a lot of help.  Pray and Think about it!

I'll leave you with this:

2 Chronicles 7:14

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Movie Review: Instant Family PG-13+

I think you all know how much I love to watch movies.  I try to watch things that I can review here, things that make me contemplate life and the world and stretch me in ways I am not normally stretched in my day to day routine.

I've never felt the tug to adopt, but I know others who have felt the desire to and have.  So, when a movie comes out that is PG-13 and deals with this subject I gravitated toward it.  Who doesn't like Mark Walberg, right? Yeah, I know, a lot of people don't. 

Anyway, I laughed and cried a lot throughout the movie.  It was funny where it needed to be and serious where it needed to be.  HOWEVER,  ....  Yeah, holy moly have some language.  I guess I should have looked up the reviews online like I do with a lot of movies whem I am unsure of it's content.  I just didn't think it would be that bad with this specific subject matter.  Here are the reviews from 2 of my favorite sources:

Common Sense Media review
Focus on the Family Plugged In Review

It really was a lot of unnecessary language in the movie.  I was a bit surprised. I mean I shouldn't be surprised seeing the state of our culture these days. Most of the time, although I am put off my bad language, it doesn't bother me.  I think the subject matter in this movie didn't warrant the types of language there was.  

My opinion is that it's a decent movie in a lot of ways, but it isn't for kids and I probably wouldn't even show it to teenagers either.  I would consider it an adult only movie.

I wrote a post a little while ago about a charity we support that works with adoption.  You can check out the post here.

Interested in a post about how I feel about movies you can check that post out here.

Adoption and/or fostering is something that we need to keep on our hearts in one form or another.  We are called to care for widows and orphans.  This will look differently for each of us.  Prayer, Financial Support, Community programs, actual fostering and/or adopting. 


James 1:26-27
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world