Ten years ago today I was working at a home for teenage mothers, trying to make sense of what I was seeing on television. How could something like this happen so close to me? I was surprised, scared, angry, tearful. That night in bed I held my husband tight, listening to the words our president shared with the country. I was fearful of what this tragedy would mean for my life, my family. My world of safety crumbled with the buildings.
Today, I thought about the certainties I have in life, the universal truths I can count on. I now work at an assisted living center, helping seniors do simple tasks their aging bodies will not allow them to do. Death is the first certainty that came to my mind. Most residents I help will be there until they die. It's hard to accept, but true nonetheless. Likewise, I too will face death one day. I can ignore this reality, but that will not stop it from happening.
Another fact of life that I will face, along with everyone else, is trouble. Jesus told me it would come. I look around me and see it in the faces of those I encounter every day. Every person's issues are different, but every person has issues of one kind or another.
Thankfully, not all certainties bring sorrow. I know that God is love. I believe Jesus shed his blood as an offering for my sins and now I am acceptable in God's eyes. My life on earth is only a fraction of the whole plan he has for me. When I die, I will meet him face to face, and know more of the bigger picture than I know now.
Nothing else in this life is a guarantee.
What do you rely on? What do you know for sure? We cannot count on peace, good health, comfort, wealth, or the safety of our nation. Those things are blessings, but not guaranteed to last. If our hope and certainty rests in the arms of the one who spread his wide on a cross two thousand years ago, we are truly safe.
"Sin didn't and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin verses grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life - a life that goes on and on and on, world without end." Romans 5:20b-21 The Message
God please comfort those who lost loved ones ten years ago today. Comfort us as we face death and trouble. Help us to rest in the certainty of your love for us. Amen.
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