Why We Remember

Recently, Facebook circulated this photo of the twin towers with a caption below stating that for the first time this year, high school freshmen will study the events of 9/11 not as a memory but as a historical event. As hard as it is to believe that 15 years have passed since that horrific event, I recall in vivid reel the images flashing across our tiny dorm-room TV in college. If I'd been watching a Hollywood film, I would have thought nothing of the scene, but these atrocities were actually destroying thousands of lives. Nearly 3,000 people died that day, but more experienced the penetrating loss. Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children, brothers, sisters, and friends felt the deep soul death from the evil. This murderous act killed toddlers and seniors. Their family dynamics would forever be altered.





Fifteen years later, the majority of people (or perhaps it's just what the media chooses to focus on) seem to avert the topic. "Let's move on." Though "moving on" is essential to growth, we can't deny the devastation of that day. Family members and friends don't want to forgot those who died and for us to do so involves a level of dishonor to what they conceded.


In remembering, we....

• Reset our priorities. What is truly important? Am I putting my time and energy into those things? After 9/11, people left work and school and spent the rest of the day with loved ones. Estranged relationships were amended through forgiveness and phone conversations across the continent. People who had written off God stepped over the threshold of their local church, looking for eternal hope.                                                                                                                                         
• Restrain evil. When we remember what can happen, we decide that we will be different. We can't change everyone (or anyone?), but we can change who we choose to be. We decide to demonstrate compassion, service, and light to a world shadowed in darkness. Philip Yancey says that "If the church does its job, people don't torment themselves wondering where God is. They know the answer. God becomes visible through people who live out the mission that Paul expressed so well" (The Question That Never Goes Away 150).                                                          
• Regenerate through pain. God doesn't want to waste our suffering. If the Lord swooped in every time evil would strike, would we cease to have free will? If He saved us from every painful experience, would we turn to Him and find spiritual restoration? Should life be void of sorrow and agony would we look to our Creator for our purpose and salvation or would we declare, "I've got this"? C.S. Lewis said, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." Romans 8:28 may not make much sense when we contrast it to our experiences, but we trust that God filters the ingredients to receive the best possible outcome. In The Goodness of God, Randy Alcorn relates an experience as a child. His mother used to make the best cakes, but when he tested the ingredients separately (vanilla, eggs, baking soda, etc.), nearly everything tastes horrible. Still, when baked together, the cake became this delicious end product.                                             "In a similar way, each trial and apparent tragedy tastes bitter to us. Romans 8:28 doesn't tell me 'it is good' if my leg breaks, or my house burns down, or I am robbed and beaten, or my child dies.Rather, God carefully measures out and mixes all the ingredients together, including the most bitter ones, and in the end, as measured after life here is done, produces a wonderful final product" (98).

To Stop and See...

I'm not Catholic; in fact, growing up Baptist, the well-meaning denominational jokes often made me believe that Catholics weren't even Christians. It wasn't till my college days I realized being a Christ-follower didn't exclude you from the Catholic church.
I'm not particularly liturgical: I suppose my nature is too organic to desire the ceremonial observances recited week after week. The repetition often diminishes meaning for me.
I'm not as disciplined as I'd like: Many inspired ideas get muddied in execution. I plan but don't follow through.

Even so, I do appreciate and adore the Lent season. About 10 years ago I learned what it meant to really observe Lent: it wasn't about giving up chocolate or weeping in ashes. It was about setting aside a time (40 days) to be intentionally pursuing the Lord.

By looking inward (confession and repentance) and looking upward (prayer and hopeful anticipation), I learned to pause long enough to truly see. And Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday started to carry so much more joy and depth to my spirit. 

*To see myself as I am: deficient and broken and prideful (in need of a savior)
*To see my Lord as He is: humble servant of sacrifice, Savior, Coming King,  and...
*To see myself as I am in Him: undeserving but wholly loved, forgiven, and accepted

I must confess, that last one still remains a struggle for me. But, I'm starting to see the Enemy for who he really is: and the real enemy isn't myself.

Yes, I will continue to make mistakes--lots of them--and that's hard for someone who wants to achieve purpose and...yes, maybe a little perfection in those areas of life (wife, mother, daughter, friend, Christian).

The women at my church started a study last week, on Ash Wednesday, titled The Armor of God. In it, Priscilla Shirer challenges us to observe "actionable intel" on the enemy's workings, not so we give him more honor or recognition but so that we can take a strategic defense against his techniques. For the enemy has "an intimate knowledge of who you are and the precise pressure points where you can most easily be taken down" (29). He knows where you are vulnerable.

Taken directly from the book, here are some strategies categorized by most common means of attack.

#1 Against Your Passion (He dims your desires for prayer and spiritual things)
#2 Against Your Focus (He manipulates perspective and wants to direct you to the wrong enemy)
#3 Against Your Identity (He magnifies insecurities and lead you to doubt what God says about you).
#4 Against Your Family (He disintegrates your family)
#5 Against Your Confidence (He constantly reminds you of past failures and mistakes).
#6 Against Your Calling (He amplifies fear& worry until they are the loudest voices you hear).
#7 Against Your Purity (He tempts you toward sin, diminishing the idea of consequences).
#8 Against Your Rest and Contentment (He hopes to overload your life, pushing you beyond)
#9 Against Your Heart (He stirs old wounds that generate bitterness, hurt, anger, etc.)
#10 Against Your Relationships (He creates disruption and disunity).

("Sizing Up the Enemy" The Armor of God by Shirer p 33)

Ask the Lord to show you were the enemy is gaining too much ground in your life. Is he getting a foothold...or more? Are your weapons pointed at the wrong enemy? Where are you being attacked and how do you counterattack?

During this season of Lent--of remembering--ask the Lord to restore your perspective and strengthen you to walk out in truth. Yes, we are broken and fallible, but we are also redeemed, cherished, and set apart from a special purpose.

Revelation 12

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
    and the kingdom of our God,
    and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
    who accuses them before our God day and night,
    has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
    by the blood of the Lamb
    and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.

Dear College Student

My husband works with college students, I'm going on my 8th year of online teaching for Regent University, and my baby brother is graduating as summa cum laude in three weeks. So, those college experiences flood my memories.  Lately, God has placed some precious college students on my heart, and if I had my wish, I'd weekly welcome them in for food and family time and just encourage them: it's going to be okay. You are an amazing person, "as is", regardless of your successes, failures, grades, or relationships.

When I look back on my ups and downs and the crazy roller-coaster ride college life was, I often want to encourage those a decade or so behind me to take heart, keep perspective, and avoid the pitfalls I did.

If I could write a letter and deliver it to myself 15 years ago, it might read something like this...


Dear Wondering, Wide-Eyed Student,

The next four years may stretch out as a vast expanse before you, but trust me, it does go so quickly. You will look back in wonder, "could it really all be over already?" Maybe not on graduation day, but soon.

The first year, you'll be figuring out your balance and where your feet should go: don't overdue it. Yes, opportunities abound, but for every "yes," you must say "no" to something else. Explore and sample, but don't over-commit yourself till you figure out what you truly want to keep as most important. Prioritize.

Grades are important, of course, but you aren't just there to attain a 4.0. You are here for people, building beautiful relationships, growing in your connection to the Lord, and understanding who you are and what you want to do with your life. And believe me, you won't fully know even on graduation day, for you will continue to learn and grow beyond those brief 4-5 years.

As for relationships, you'll be given many freedoms and choices you didn't have before: choose wisely. Not everyone that winks and smiles is worth pursuing. The one that you should follow and allow to pursue you is the one who seeks the Lord above all else, who treats you with patience and selflessness and consideration. Don't listen to flatterers who use you and think themselves more important than they should. Just because he says he loves you doesn't mean that he does. Perhaps he just loves the idea of you on his arm. Your worth does not and cannot come from someone other than your Creator. So, please, save yourself some heartache and let go of that lie. The "other he" will never satisfy like the One and Only He. 

Although you have friends and family around to support you, remember that you are basically on your own now. So, start taking some ownership of yourself and your days. Don't always look to them as your fall-back or handout. Take personal responsibility for your time, your relationships, your coursework and your money. In this somewhat "cushioned" environment, you have a great chance to prove to yourself that you can take care of yourself. Don't throw it away.

In the same stroke, balance responsibility and grace. Remember that the path you start off on--whether it be relationally or academically--is not one you have to finish on. Sidestep to another path and allow yourself to learn and grow.  Avoiding mistakes is great, but you're going to mess up sometimes. Allow the situation to humble you, learn from it and then move on. 

Don't let fear and insecurity rule your decisions.
Remember you are dearly cherished and God has a plan for your life.
And to balance it all, you aren't as important as you think: life isn't about you.
Plan ahead but keep your plans with a loose grip.
Don't try to figure it all out right now.

...the older, wiser you

Three questions I'd encourage you to ask yourself (whether you are a freshmen, a nearly-graduating senior, or alumni):

1. God, what do you think of me?
2. Lord, what do you want me to do right now?
3. Will you please give me the strength to walk out in those two answers?