Even now 10 years later each time I see the American Flag, be it as a sticker on the side of a police vehicle, waiving at the Ford dealership or even on someones shirt – I remember the many bodies I had the privileged to help carry to peace. For years I had worked in EMS and Fire – I have had to deal with many fatalities from innocent children to gang members who were in their own version of war – but 9/11 and the months following to this day still haunt my soul.

While driving in to the city our ambulance was rocked by people holding signs – and stopping us to hand us water, hugs – prayers and sharing tears – I had a rookie on board who was driving. He thought it was best to use the siren to get the people out of the way so we could get through the city to our staging area. I calmly reached over and turned the siren off – as I looked at the peoples faces I realized something – We, coming in from Southern New Jersey, were literally the only sign of hope in a city in despair -masked in acres of rubble where roads, cars and a concrete haze hid the scorched and scared faces that were looking at us empty – left without meaning.  The siren only added to the shock – and our presence was supposed to be calming.

If you have ever been to New York – you will learn that even at the latest hour of the day – there are cars and buses – taxis and limo’s driving people all over the city – it was an eerie  feeling as we drew closer to ground zero – We saw a sea of people all walking, some so drained mentally and emotionally you could see they were using every last ounce of their strength to drag themselves just to the next step. – and suddenly it was all quite. Hardly a sound. When we arrived just one block down from the collapse of the first tower – on Vesey street the realization of the devastation set in.

Pallets and Pallets of water and other items were just sitting in the street. We were assigned to go through the many surrounding buildings to search for survivors – sadly we did not find many. I can remember a secondary collapse in which I had to dive under a fire truck for safety – all the while thinking if the building is coming down there is no way this truck is going to save me. The first rule any EMS, Firefighter or Police officer learns is Scene Safety – look out for potential hazards. The truth is – the members of the FDNY, NYPD and the Port Authority Police knew they were running in to the most dangerous situation. As bodies were descending at the speed of gravity they were climbing as quickly as possible. Scene safety was not paramount upon arrival for these Hero’s but rather getting in – and saving as many lives as possible – even knowing that your theirs was not in jeopardy but already over.

A few days later I was exhausted and walking back from the Cafeteria – a fancy name for what really was a boat which until the terrorist attack was used to shuttle tourists around the water ways so they could “tour the city” and I found a priest ripping off his clothes screaming at God asking Him Why and Where. Where are you now God… he demanded to know. I walked over to help what obviously any EMT trained would could identify as a man who was mentally breaking down and in need of help.

I asked him his name – and he answered – I asked him why he doubted God’s presence and he pulled me by my collar over to a blue suv and read to me the note out loud -

“Dear NYPD – I am a nurse – Please don’t tow my car – AND if you find this please tell my husband and my children that I love them and if I do not make it let them know I am fulfilling John 15:13″

He demanded to know from me how God could let this happen. I sat with him for what seemed like hours – but was really only just a few minutes and felt the warm glow of the sun coming up over the horizon – as I looked up I saw a cross in the distance – this cross had tons of workers underneath it digging and working, struggling to find any one who could have possibly survived. I answered the priest and said – until now I never really could answer your question – or even that question for myself long before what happened yesterday but I do know one thing – Even as I walk through this Valley of Death the Lord is near me – He comforts Me and in the end I will lie down in Green Pastures.   I pointed to the Cross – and he asked me if I would pray for him as he had “lost the words to speak to God”, I began with the Lord’s prayer – which he recited with me.

I never was able to find that priest again – even after searching – but I will never forget what he told me ” Glenn, I have a renewed faith and even in this tragedy I know that it is a promise SURELY goodness and mercy – the Love of our Father will follow us all the days of our lives – let me go and share the good news.”

With that I returned to the gator crew I was assigned to picking through the rubble.

For those who are struggling – I want to simply remind you also of that promise God has made us – He will Never Leave us or Forsake us – even when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of Death – His Rod and His staff are there to comfort us.

While driving back home I stopped at a small Baptist church in Hoboken NJ on the other side of the tunnel – ran to find a bible and opened it to John 15:13

From the over 350 EMS, Fire and Police officers – as well as the countless other volunteers including building security and the other nameless who helped, from the folks who downed the plane in Shanksville PA, and from that nurse who most assuredly was killed we as a nation learned a lesson that most have already forgotten – except perhaps those who are still serving daily putting their lives in front of harms way day by day: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

“They tried to make me go to rehab,” she sang on her world-conquering 2006 single, “Rehab.” “I said ‘No, no no.’”

These words should become a postcard for every high school across America and handed out on the first day of class.  Amy Winehouse dead at 27 – had her whole life ahead of her.   A young lady who gained all that the world had to offer – but it was not enough to make her happy, to keep her happy – and now she is past this life.  Like Janis Joplin Ms. Winehouse also had a talent for self destruction, and fought a long battle against substance abuse –  had a life that was ALMOST a fairy tale – but sadly this had no fairy tale ending.

Drugs, Alcohol, Racism , Eating disorders and destructive relationships- all forms of self expression and self medicating…  a life in trouble with no one to do an intervention long enough to make it stick.

If you had the chance to spend just 24 hours with her what would you have said or done to try to break this destructive cycle?

Imagine if we actually were not so shallow!

• I would convince pastors and other church leaders, (Denominational folks etc.) that to focus on Quality and not Quantity.   One quality saved soul is much better than 100 nominally saved souls …   It is the Quality of your message, the Quality of your Discipleship and not the Quantity of the people you reach with the Gospel Message.    I would teach them to criticize the Mega Churches, the Evangelists, and others who are reaching large numbers for Christ and convince them to take pride in the fact they are reaching virtually no one.  Heaven is a hard place to get in after all -  you gotta work to get there !
• Once they have bought into the Quantity portion I would work with others to begin attacking the Quality portion… I would convince church leaders that the quality of their worship services do not need to be Church 2.0 but rather lectures only.   No Audio, No Video, No blogging or Twitter or Text Messages during or after the service…  Share nothing !
• CONVINCE PASTORS TO DREAM SMALL:  Deal with everything first – inside the walls of your church.   Going outside of this is to much of a daunting task!   You have so much that needs to get done that you need to master all of those things long before you could ever Dream Big with your ministry…  You after all are no Billy Graham!
• Dear Pastor -  Don’t you know that politics are the most important thing in ministry!     Who get’s elected is not just pre-ordained by God – but YOU HAVE INFLUENCE!     After all your freedoms to worship – to not pay taxes – to do what you want are at stake!  What happens if you can no longer talk about all these gods you worship -   (you know the church, the people, the new steeple, the new worship style, …  all that stuff )
• HEY YOU _ CHRISTIAN —  STAY OUT OF THE WORLD -    Going into the world will only pollute your mind.    You after all are not an apostle – You are not Jesus – You cannot make a difference if you begin liking the things of this world !    Attack everything in the world – and do so always -   don’t worry those that are called will still come and those that don’t like it were never meant to be saved anyhow.
• Reformers must unite and work together to let all the other nominal Christian groups know they are wrong and are hopelessly going to Hell.    Go ahead and fight these points – hate each other -   you will forget about me and my work while I silently sit in your pews, in your Sunday School classes and small groups like a lion dressed as a lamb eating all up…..   It’s okay not to celebrate the fact that Jesus after all Died for all of you.
• Attack blogs of fellow Christians and other ministries – after all they are not yours and the collection plate is only so small in this economy after all!
• Dear Christian – it is okay that your pastor preaches from books other than the Bible -   He learns better that way.   Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the words of — well just words !   God inspires all kinds of things anyhow …  you don’t need that bible anymore…
• Hey church goer – your pastor doesn’t have a personal walk with Christ – They simply do ministry and forget about spending time with God in thought, in the Word and prayer….     Hey Pastor -  it is okay to use ministry work for your personal walk – no one will ever know.    Your doing ministry after all – and hey did you ever see Jesus spend time talking to His father…
• Pastor – your church sucks !   So get your leaders together and start looking for other churches that suck so you can tell others -   put the blame elsewhere !
• Boycotting Funerals of Fallen soldiers is what we call EFFECTIVE EVANGELISM! -   Keep it up and people will know you as BAPTIST!
• FORGET ABOUT SCRIPTURE -   Proper exegesis makes no sense in today’s world.   Just begin making stuff up – and when that fails – write a book about your doubts with Biblical Theology.    Don’t apologize for the new gospel -  just apologize for the OLD Gospel – after all accepting Christ is hard enough work to do.
• Pastor -  your next placement will be better -    Don’t dig roots in the community,  don’t focus on relationships – after all relationships are the lifeblood of any community – but this community stinketh – and you deserve better!
• Hey church attendee – how come your pastor has not settled in?   Why does he always focus on this Jesus guy and not the issues causing such problems in society.
• The King James Bible is the only Word of God -  Can’t you see the RED LETTERS !     (or was it the NIV this week, or the ESV) … hmmm    forget this bible thing and just use a few books – they are easier than all that Greek and Hebrew  translated stuff anyhow.

Those are just a few things…

- a brief note – i have been collecting these for some time – many are not my own thought but pretty interesting

Robbed Hell – C.A.S.T. Pearls Presents from Canon Wired on Vimeo.

To sum it up – after reading his writings – I think this is what he is saying:

We are not saved by INFORMATION but by TRANSFORMATION

Information WITHOUT Transformation = DAMNATION

I do not think he is saying that we are saved by works… what are your thoughts?

Ask a Muslim to define their faith in one sentence and they will tell you their 1st and Greatest teaching in Islam as proclaimed by the Shahada: “La Ilaha illa-l-lah, Muhammadun rasulu-l-lah.” (“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah.”)    This is the Muslim profession of faith – ( Shahada comes from from Arabic and literally means witnessing.

It is this very confession, which, once uttered sincerely, makes one a real Muslim.

For a Muslim, Allah is One “AL-WÂHID,” and has no partners, no equals. According to the Quran, Sura 28;88, it is stated: “And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no god save Him.”     Therefore , to a Muslim and their scriptures, Allah is totally other.   He created and maintains the world, and since Allah is one, no one else can share His Divinical authority or power. Islam teachings make it clear that Allah has no Father, No Son and No anything else…

In the Hadiths, Muhammad is reported to have related the ninety-nine names of Allah, to express some of His attributes. A number of these are: that He is merciful, “AR-RAHÎM“, that He is all-powerful “AL-MUQTADIR” (omnipotent), that He is wise and all-knowing “AL-’ALÎM” (omniscient), and that He is eternal “AL-HAYY” (no beginning and no end).

The Christian Response regarding “Belief in One God”

Surprisingly enough – Christians and Muslims worship the God of Abraham.    Christians, as do Muslims – believe in only 1 Creator, The Maker of the Heavens and Earth, Who was and Always Will be who is Righteous and Just.    Reading Deuteronomy 6:4 “The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” clarifies this for anyone who is guessing.   Christians believe that there is only One true God who commands his followers to Love Him completely.    This is the same calling of Christ Jesus when He stated The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:28-30 and Matt.22:37)   Christians also believe any other gods are man made – and completely false (Hosea 13:2-3)

Christians and Muslims believe in One True God

While on a plane recently I spoke with a Muslim in depth, and continued our converstation at an airport in Atlanta –   He stated our belief in the pluarity of God is where we stray …    Surprisingly however – he had our belief in the trinity all wrong.     He saw the belief as God the Father, Mary the Blessed Virgin and Jesus the Son.”      Turning on the ipad via Boingo wireless – I found this to go back to a herectial Christian sect after some google searching called the Chloridians…   I explained to him, from our Scriptures the word “Trinity or Triune” is never made apparent – however~  Since the Scriptures speak of God the Father who sends God the Son and the Holy Spirit who resides within each Christian believer giving them guidance and peace and mediation – we years ago coined the term Trinity to explain the relationship on a 3 in One God.

When asked “Why then would Jesus not speak to this relationship?”   I pointed a large number of scriptures such as “I and the Father are One”, but settled on the following  in Matthew 28  …in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (verse 19) where Christ gave the Great Commission.

As Christians – we see God the Father not as a biological relationship but rather as a relationship  and a fellowship thus we can attest and belief that Christ and the Father are One.

After going over all of the 99 names of the Muslim God – I see no reason why Christians cannot believe in each and every name – including Allah – since Allah is the same name in which Abraham used “Elohim” in Hebrew…

—

ny now I am sure a number of you are wondering where I am going with this…  I expect comments but believe we have much more in common – than most Christians and Muslims realize –   HOWEVER there are some clear places where our faiths are much different.

Ministry is a synonym to Messy.
I learned after fighting for attention for a long time
after pushing to be noticed
pushing to be heard
aching to be loved
hurting from being insecure
that this is the way of the world – this is the hopeless of the world

but I was free to love

• I was free to keep no record of wrongs
• I was free to notice others
• I was free to listen to others
• I was free to love the aching
• I was free to secure those who were hurting
• I was free to give Hope to the Hopeless

I am Free in Christ

I am free in the everlasting love
I am free in being Drawn in by the Holy Spirit
There is freedom in being in a messy-less mess

I don’t have to fight to get in position
I don’t have to try to get Gods attention
I don’t have to try to get in the “church”
Through Christ – I am already in.

I have seen hopeless addicts find Christ and be FREE -

• Free to live
• Free to love
• Free to begin their lives over again.

I have seen respected leaders in the church strangled by the religiosity of the institution.

• Captive to the judgement of others
• Captive to the limited relationship they have by not being allowed to express freely their heart of hearts
• Captive unable to meet the expectations of the  “christian life”

There is freedom in working with the weeds in the wheat (Matthew 13)

I thank God that I learned the mission of the Church the Heartbeat of Christ is to Evangelize the World…  There is Freedom in Speaking Freedom

perhaps the problem with today’s churches are they are simply not messy…

That is a lesson I learned from my father, who abandoned me, who years later has accepted salvation through Christ.

that deafening silence of not pushing to be heard any longer – not aching to be loved to hurting from being insecure -  being part of something Bigger than anyone could imagine – not having to try to be part of the group – but being accepted as already part of the Church was used by Christ to transform a relationship

Was used by Christ to bring reconciliation.

I pray that perhaps this fathers day – you might reconcile with the father figure in your life and stop being a weed but rather Wheat in the harvest.