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.”

Imagine being the guy tending to the flock of sheep only to see the sky brighten up and hear the Angels Glorifying the King of Kings and Lord of Lords – telling you a farmer – that GOD IS WITH YOU!

Imagine being the Son of Man – the Son of God walking into the temple at such a young age knowing that these are the same people that you came to die for – the same people who will crucify you because you threaten their CREED but saving them with your Final deed of your resurrection.

Imagine being the proud disciple of Christ knowing that one day the writings of the Old Testament – the same writings that many in your culture have grown up to memorize, would be carried out to end the life of your blessed friend.

Imagine hearing that friend tell those in the temple that he would raise it up again in just 3 days… and wondering what that really meant.

Imagine being the one who kissed Jesus,  what was once a sign of respect would be forever eternally changed to a sign of betrayal.

Imagine being the one who wanted to kill the guard for taking away your master – only to have that master heal the guard.

… now

Imagine only moments later you run away and deny the Christ you have spent so much time with.

Imagine watching your friend be beaten, bruised, scorned – FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS -

Imagine being the one to help your friend carry the tree – the Cross – knowing that soon he would be killed – murdered – crucified – after being tried by a kangaroo court where the justice of the peace washed his hands of the situation…

Imagine hearing those words -   IT IS FINISHED -  and watching your friend – your master – the Son of Man – the Son of God Dead on the cross – as the guard cuts his side open to ensure death’s final blow has actually been completed…

… Can you – just for a moment

Imagine those things in your life that this Jesus has died to wash away so that you may be presented faultless to the Only Wise God…   Were you born to live a life of happiness, a life of getting and having all your desires – or to die to self so that others may Gain?

Don’t you realize that you Killed Jesus?

after all my friend -  It was Your Sin that He died for.   (and mine…)

Stop imagining and take Faith knowing that the Father who sent His Son sees you as faultless – because of this sacrifice.

Rejoice -HIS GLORY HAS JUST BEGUN.

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.

God is God.

God is Good

…



To God Be the Glory.

I pray this may be used to both challenge and encourage you!

A large number of pastors are praying for protection for America – protection from those that would want to harm our way of living… and then there was one in the midst of all of these…

Dear Father – Forgive this man who wanted to take the lives of others,

Thank you that even today his soul has not been eternally lost – We pray that he will even now have your Holy Spirit begin working on his Heart and that you will send a servant to witness about your glory.

We thank you for keeping us safe and pray your will is done here on Earth as it is in Heaven.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Many pastor’s wrote about the Terrorist being 80% successful, others wrote about we should go and support our troops to kill those that are against our way of living…  with each I found it far from the heart of forgiveness – and I myself have been included at times with these feelings.

While I do not want to get into politics, is our leadership willing and able to keep us safe etc…  I do thank God that we serve a living Savior – Who is able to keep us from falling and able to present us faultless.

Glenn,  Are you aware of what you just said?   You wan’t to be homeless again…

I had to explain it to him in detail how important it is to listen to words – and understand the meaning behind them.

Sometimes I miss being homeless, I stated… not that I want to be homeless again.

As a homeless kid (yes kid) I had to lean on God and not on my own understanding… I had to depend upon the generosity of others – mainly the Church (the people), the Salvation Army, and others.   In highschool I had a teacher (Mr. Michael Button) that would on a weekly basis buy me a lunch in school.  He took me to the office one day and said “He should be getting free lunch… “  they stated “his parents make to much…”   I had not seen my parents for at least 6+ months – and was paying rent $50/weekly in a boarding house… Mr Button took it upon his own heart to feed me…

I know he lives in Ocean City, retired – and am grateful to him for all the blessings he gave me during that time of my life.   While living on the street I believe I met many people who were in God’s Army.   They kept me safe and gave me a sense of comfort.  Just like Mr. Button I met many people that are able to bless you and remind you it is not about YOU.

Now – with the comforts of a home, a family, a wife… I sometimes forget this simple fact…

This afternoon I sat in what is going to rapidly become a new church movement here in Ohio.   A small denomination called Church of Christ in Christian Union here in Ohio purchased an old school – and… held their first service there today.  140 people in attendance on a Cold Sunday afternoon with snow flurries in the air, snow on the ground … and God being Glorified inside… The story of Jesus being Born, Dying and Rising again – His blood saving mankind from our sin …  As I sat there and took the time to discuss with a few people who walked in the door about their lives I came back to that same thought…

Sometimes I miss being homeless

I learned recently that In this community I make at least 3x the average of any family in the county… AND… we struggle to make ends meet.  Perhaps Kathie, the kids and I still need to learn to lean on God and not on all of these other comforts of life we have purchased… and now have to pay to support.

I came home and a friend Tweeted (which made it to his facebook) an awesome link from ragamuffinsoul.com A homeless man named Danny comes up and while Carlos Whittaker was recording a new music video – kneeled down and began singing and Glorifying God.

At the end he said something that is so Awesome – So True – and something I learned while I was homeless…Carlos said “Keep trying to make it… ” to which Danny responds,

“Trying to make it? No man. I ain’t trying to make it…I’m making it. Jah puts His soldiers everywhere. Jah says, Yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death… So He places some of us, in that valley.

While I am fortunate not to be in the Valley of homelessness -  I am grateful for the time that I was, when I came to Christ and became Born Again.

Watch this video and listen where Danny sings – Hallelujah is the Highest Praise – One Jah, One Father, One Creator…   When is the last time you thought about being stripped from EVERYTHING down to just having One Jah, one Father, One Creator… One way to heaven… One who took your place born of a Virgin to Die for your sins…

sometimes being out of the Valley … allows us to Forget the blessings we have from Our Heavenly Father.

I miss the wisdom of many of those Brothers and Sisters who are Making it… living in the Valley, in the Shadows.   Many of us would have just written Danny off – as someone w/o a purpose in life…  But here is a man – a beautiful creation of God – with next to nothing except his Life and he is able to Glorify God with what he has…  His Body and Soul.

One last note -  I love the words of this song…

Save us from these comforts.
Break us of our need for the familiar
Spare us any joy that’s not of You
And we will worship You

Reading the Word Daily on a city Diamond

Tim has a story like many – he grew up in a strict family – had a lot to offer to his family, community and even himself – but decided to take what was at the time – the easy road. This road of crime led to drugs and alcohol, two failed marriages and even loosing a promising career as a surgical technician.

In the late 1970′s Compton Little league lost its charter when the city became victim of inner city blight and poverty. Lewis bounced back after coming to Christ and realized that the future of the children in the city could gain a boost by rhe resurgence of Little League baseball. Homeless with nothing but a minivan and Hope – Lewis fought to restore the city’s little league charter and created a five team league with roughly 300 children in its ranks.

These children are learning the importance of a second chance, the importance of perseverance in the face of adversity – and how God can help us each overcome.

Praying at Practice

Practices and Games are began with prayer from someone who does not have a Doctorate in Theology but rather a man who uses kneeology – starting each morning climbing out of his mini-van and hitting the knees of the outfield in prayer.

At roughly the age of 50 years old Tim Lewis came to Christ – and now is a Disciple serving the Kingdom in a place where many others believe God has Forsaken. Mr. Lewis serves a God that does not Forget – that does not forsake.

While I suspect that his new found publicity, from NBC interviews to HBO Real Time Sports segments, has made it hard for Mr. Lewis to hide from his mistakes – we find a man that refuses to hide – has been refusing to hide and instead brings his story – and teaches kids that through Jesus Christ – it is history, uses the failed tests of his life as a testimony for the Powerful Saving Grace through Jesus Christ.

That being said – I will be moving into a new series called The Power of Prayer.
To kick this off – I have started a website recently called www.PrayerHelps.org

I love the simplistic nature of this site – just post a prayer request – and then have others pray an intercessory prayer.

Please visit the website www.PrayerHelps.org and sign up to pray for those who are asking for prayer -
You can also post a prayer as well.

The tool we used here is just one of the many fantastic extensions created by MarkStephenson & the Web Empowered Church team (see www.WebEmpoweredChurch.com for additional details or www.VineHosting.com for a turn key version). One really nice feature of this software is that the software will allow you to post a prayer anonymously

So – if you are going to spend 1 hour in prayer daily and your stuck – here is a place to start….

He also has lately been doing a large amount of behaviors – most specifically within the last 4 weeks that are best explained as ticks and OCD behavior.

We are visiting a specialist on Thursday to discuss the issues.

Thanks for your prayer support

Glenn