I have been horrible about blogging...lots of busyness and excuses....but here it is September 11, 2012 on a Tuesday, like September 11, 2001. I was in a conference that morning and I didn't' find out until after lunch (we were at a rural church with no TV) while visiting some very seriously ill church members in a nursing home the scope of the tragedy. It was in the lobby watching the video of the towers' collapses when I realized how horrible this day was....I had never seen that many people die at one time. We all know how much it changed everything. Every year, however, I have tried to remind people that even in the shadow of such horrible hatred and devastation, some amazingly wonderful things were happening, too. Perhaps my favorite example is what happened in the little town (10,000 pop) of Gander, Newfoundland where 6,700 travelers from all over the world were loved by a bunch of Canadian strangers who were to become their hosts, their friends, and their inspiration. Here is one of many clips you'll find about Gander on YouTube:
These "regular" people are an example of how to apply Romans 12:21: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." That is our basic choice...everyday! The thing about Gander is that their love was "seeded" among those 6,700 travelers who left to re-enter a world changed forever by a devastating act of evil. Those seeds, however, contain a force more powerful than evil, a force empowered by the One who created us in the first place...the force of love and compassion and kindness.
So what kinds of seeds are you sowing in a post 9/11 world? I hope you're sowing the same kinds of seeds a little town in eastern Canada sowed eleven years ago on a day when evil was met with an even greater force....love!
