I feel off kilter this week, with the holiday and being away. Can’t always remember what day of the week it is and what I should be doing. I did work today, then came home to ‘office’ chores, phone calls, pulling weeds (with my left hand), and making an easy dinner.
I am an ARC reader for one of my favorite authors (Elizabeth Bromke) – that means that about a week or before the book is actually released several ‘first readers’ get an electronic copy of the book and we read it to see if there are any errors or issues. I am honored to be included in that group, and it also means that I get to read the book before it’s on the market! This particular book is #5 in a series and ties up the loose ends – so I was very excited to get my copy yesterday evening. I am 43% of the way through already.
The obvious topic for today is WHERE WERE YOU ON SEPTEMBER 11 2001? I was sitting at my desk in the title office at Smail Auto when Donna Kier (friend and fellow co-worker) rushed to our doorway and told us about the first plane. It wasn’t long until the second one hit the towers, then the DC one, then Shanksville. I walked outside, across the parking lot, to the file storage building, and the sky was eerily quiet. There was no traffic on Route 30 except for a continuous stream of State Police cars zooming East toward Shanksville. My daughter, who was working part time at the dealerships, came early to sit with us in the office as she felt uncomfortable being home alone. My son called me from his job, just to check in. I in turn called my parents. All the televisions in the buildings were focused on the attack sights, and we were all focused on the televisions. What we saw and heard that day left us with emotions and memories that will never diminish. God bless America.
I tuned in to listen to Greg at Vanderbilt church but he was off sick with a nasty bee sting to his eye, which was as swollen as a walnut in the shell. His friend and pastor Rob Grandy presented the message, and it had been a long time since I had heard Rob speak. What a treat! This message was on ‘DOORS’ and their significance in the Bible and to us. The thought that I want to share today is his last point. The door to salvation is propped wide open – temporarily. God will close the door in His time, and when those outside of Christ will try to go in, Jesus will say, ‘I don’t know you! Depart from me!’ Don’t be outside of Christ when that day comes. Seek Him and His salvation now while the door is open to you.
On this day in 1773 Ben Franklin wrote “There never was a good war or a bad peace.” In 1789 Alexander Hamilton was appointed first Secretary of the US Treasury, and in 1847 it was the first singing of Stephen Foster’s “Susanna”, in Pittsburgh PA! Jenny Lind gave her first US concert in 1850, and the Rolling Stones performed on the Ed Sullivan show in 1966. And as mentioned above, in 2001 Al Qaeda terrorists crashed two planes into the NY World Trade Towers, killing 2606 people; one plane into the Pentagon; and Flight 93 passengers and crew attempted to take control of that hijacked plane which crashed in a field in Shanksville PA killing all aboard.
O. Henry was born in 1862, and the hero of Flight 93, Todd Beamer, died at 32 trying to divert the plane from its intended target. And today my good friend Joni Hunt is celebrating a birthday. Happy birthday Joni!
TOMORROW, September 12 is:
- National Video Games Day (There you go, Chase Hancher!!!)
- National Chocolate Milkshake Day (I’m in!!!)
- National Day of Encouragement
- National Report Medicare Fraud Day
- National Programmers Day – 256th Day of the Year
Have a great weekend, and reflect on the fact that we still have our freedoms – and that is a LOT to be thankful for. Let us never forget… God bless.
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