We all remember where we were on September 11, 2001, but do you remember
where you were the day before the day when everything changed? New York City
was bustling, they were absorbed with “killer mold” in an East Side apartment
house, and killer sharks off shore. Chandra Levy was missing for the 113th day,
and Gary Condit of California was beginning to sweat it out, not yet a suspect.
Many were disgusted that day of the news about the Taliban kidnapping two
Christian girls for being two Christian girls. The weather is scheduled to be
81 degrees, the Yankees have a night game at home with the Boston Red Sox, Roger
Clemons going for win #20, and Monday Night Football has the Giants playing the
Broncos. The game will eventually be rained out, as .41 inches of rain hit NYC
that night. Michael Jackson is playing Madison Square Garden in his first US
concert since 1989, and it is the last day before election day, Peter Vallone,
D, is seeking be mayor tomorrow, and his cry of “9-1-1, September 11th, it may
not be an emergency for you, but it is for me.” A Daily News headline in the
business section claims “the sky’s the limit for WTC business.” And how it is
felt the Twin Towers are undervalued. Stocks rally from early losses, closing
at 9605 on the DJIA. The mood is upbeat. And the city falls asleep after the
rain, many who couldn’t stay up to watch the end of the MNF game in Denver’s
final score. Just another day, in the busiest city in the world, but just 9
hours into the next day, that will all change. For New York City, the United
States, and the rest of the world. We all went to sleep secure in the safety of
our country, but tomorrow will rock our souls forever. All the action that was
going on overseas, but should never have reached our shores, was now going to be
here. And many of us slept safe in the knowledge that we were the greatest
country in the world, and always would be. If we had only known...
But the fact is we didn’t know, so life goes on normally. I was a Service
Advisor for Mercedes Benz in La Jolla, and loving it. Great job, great pay, no
reason to think tomorrow wouldn’t be anything else but the same. Mondays were
busy, but Tuesdays were always busier, and I looked forward to being busy,
working with Joe. I watched most of the football game, it was hot in our
non-air conditioned house, and working in La Jolla, about as far as you could
get from New York City was always much cooler. It had been just another day to
us, we were still only a one motorcycle family, and we drove a 1995 Thunderbird,
and a 1998 Ford Ranger. We were living the life of middle America, payments on
everything, but keeping up. I rode to work everyday, the freeways busy when I
left the house every morning at 710am, my sons were not up yet, Theresa getting
ready. All was well, and nothing was going to change all that. And then waking
up the next morning, I had just gotten out of the shower, and saw the second
plane hit the Twin Towers. And everything was changing...we were under attack,
and didn’t quite know it yet. But going to work, as I arrived the TV was on,
and the news was not good. We were under attack, and all flights were being
grounded. Business even in La Jolla had ground to a halt, as we huddled by the
TV watching, after checking in with our loved ones to be sure they were OK. The
day before the day when everything changed was just like any other, with no
forewarning of what was to come. Unannounced, unwarned, and unaware...we all
slept well on September 10th, the next night was to be different. For many
nights to come.
No one knows the day or the time when Jesus will call his church home in
what we call the rapture. And many movies over the years, the latest one in the
Left Behind series, shows one version of what it will be like when the world is
free from all Christians. In it it seems life goes on after getting things back
in order, and it almost gives a calming effect to what will be the most tragic
event in the history of the world. But just imagine truth here, take all
Christians, take God, and take all good out of the world, what is left? Evil,
and every man and woman looking out for themselves. Pure bedlam, as no
communications, no food, no ATM’s, and a panic that has never been seen before
grips the world. As described by Jesus, it will be a time when women wish they
weren’t with child. Worldwide panic will immediately set in, and it will be
every one for themselves. And the excuses will fly, the rumors of what happened
be filled in with stories of alien abduction, a great, but selective plague, and
many other stories given rise to explain what has happened. But none the truth,
for all who believe will be gone, no one left to explain why they were left
behind, or so lucky they think as to not be gone. And even back as far as 1976,
TV stations have the tapes trying to explain the event, a friend who owned a TV
station at the time confirming it. Denying Jesus to the end, and if you think
it was hard to becoming or being a Christian in today’s world, you ain’t seen
nothing yet. And as portrayed in an older movie, “A thief in the Night,”
families will be split, some coming to Christ, they had ignored the warnings,
and will face death for converting. Some will be saved during the worst 7 years
in earth’s history, but it will come with a cost. And to those who denied
Christ the first time, the second will be no different for them. “And if I die
before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take...” will have a totally new
meaning. So where do you want to be on that day? We don’t know when that event
that will change everything will occur, but we can be ready. Do you believe, or
will you still be here to witness it first hand? Read the headlines now, accept
Christ, and miss out on the headlines. Miss out on who will be the anti-Christ,
and be with Jesus Christ.
Yet many today are absorbed in who will be the anti-Christ, and to them who
they seek, they will find. Something to consider today, for it will happen on a
day just like many others. People going to work, kids going off to school, and
ball games and weather forecasts dominating headlines. Some will get rich in
the stock market that day, but will be broke the next, when money has no value.
The rich and the poor who denied Christ will all be broke, but you can still be
broken today and avoid all this. Only in looking back do we see what was the
night before, we will not be able to see the next day. Deal with Jesus today,
if ever a statement of his, “do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough
worries of its own,” is true, believe it. And quit trying to figure out the
day, Jesus doesn’t even know, what makes you think God will tell you? And if
you did know, who are you going to brag to? We will be in heaven, and no one
will really care about the date, or if you were right or wrong. It will be all
about Jesus, and if you are all about him today, tomorrow will be greeting you
in grace and peace. Just like he will once you are saved, “on earth as it is in
heaven.” Not the other way around.
Enjoy today, and rest well tonight, it may be your last. But if it isn’t,
use the time you have to share Jesus. To tell of his saving grace. And of the
future, and what it holds. We all went to sleep on 9-10-2001 not knowing what
the next day would bring. We can only look back in shock and awe. Know Jesus
and look ahead to that day of his return. There will be panic in the streets,
but not on the streets of heaven. A celebration like no other will be going on,
hope to see you there.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com