CONVERSATIONS SPRINKLED WITH GRACE                          Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,so that you may know how to answer everyone.  Colossians 4:5-7 (NIV)

I have known all week that I wanted to write about September 11th.  I watched a video of that planes hitting the towers with a class at the Rockingham County Literacy Project.  It brought back a lot of grief; for the victims, for the first responders and for our nation.  In 2001, I was teaching at an elementary school in Michigan.  The school day was just beginning.  A hush fell amidst the early morning chatter of the staff, as we saw the first plane hit.  Meanwhile students were entering the classroom, so we began our day as calmly as we could.  The phones began ringing as parents wanted to come and get their children.  It was totally surreal to perform a job in a normal fashion on such an abnormal day.  I know this is a generational marker for my children; "Where were you on September 11, 2001?"  just as President Kennedy's assassination is a marker for mine.

On that evening there were prayer meetings being held all over the city.  It was wonderful to see people come together to pray for our nation, to pray for the first responders and to pray for all of the families affected by the attack.  There was a renewed need for Someone larger than ourselves.  There was a realization that America was not impermeable, and we needed Someone to keep us safe.

I want to share a prophetic vision that was given to a wonderful woman of God that I know (Miss PH).  God gave her a vision of a cross rising from the ruins of the towers, but as the cross rose up, it became obscured by the American flag.  At that time, my hope was that there would be revival in the United States.  However, as time went on what I saw was a wave of nationalism overtaking our nation's desire for God.

The picture above is a picture of the steel cross that was found in the ruins of Ground Zero.  Many went to that cross as they worked to clean up the carnage.  May we continue to go to that cross always.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.  Psalm 33:12