9/11...

i’m not sure when you are reading this but i am writing this on 9/11. now back in 2001 when those planes hit the twin towers in the wall street area of new york city i was living over 2,000 miles away in las vegas, nevada but i live now on long island, new york next to people who were affected in so many different ways by the crisis of that day.

i was sitting yesterday waiting to get an haircut and the man in the barber’s chair at the time was a fireman and i heard him tell the barber that he would be going into the city today to a memorial mass for 9/11. i live now in an area that had many people die on that day.

crisis. so many people today are affected by something else that has happened on wall street. in some areas one out of five people are losing their homes because of the crisis on wall street. of course losing a home or a job isn’t losing your life but it is also a crisis.

so how does one face an unexpected crisis? well there are two options when you have a crisis.

matthew 8.23-25 (ms), then HE got in the boat, his disciples with HIM. the next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. waves were crashing into the boat—and HE was sound asleep! they roused him, pleading, "MASTER, save us! we're going down!" you can be filled with panic like the disciples or you can be filled with peace like JESUS.

this shows how serious the reaction was and how serious the storm was. these disciples were not novices. they were professional fishermen. they grew up on this lake. if they thought they were going to die, this must have been a life-threatening storm because these guys were pros and the pros panicked. that's how serious it was.

compare that to JESUS' reaction to the story. HE was filled with peace. it says a severe storm. waves were crashing into the boat—and HE was sound asleep! you talk about a heavy sleeper! these guys are professionals but the water's pouring in and JESUS is sawing logs! HE was sound asleep!

just a thought from the front porch…