One More For JC

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6) After 21 years, I started a new job last Wednesday.  For about the past year, I’ve been praying for an opportunity to work with Dee again – and when one opened up in early March, I went for it.  The weeks following my resignation day were even more busy and emotional than expected.  Having 21 years of emails to comb through is a lot, but it’s amazing how quickly you can delete thousands of emails regarding a product that you will never work with again.  Personal emails, on the other hand, took the full month of March to get through.  I read each one word for word – from all the wedding announcements, to birth announcements, to the supportive emails over the death of a loved one, to all the farewell emails on a colleague’s (friend’s) last day.  The “FZ, I’m alive!” email from Septe...

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad. (Proverbs 12:25) 17 years later and the sadness of 9/11 is still fresh.  I wake up with a sorrow in my heart, and brace for the tears that will undoubtedly flow at some point during the day.  As the TV replays the images and horrors of that day, it’s like seeing it all again for the first time.  As the sadness grows, at some point I always venture over to my work’s email ‘Search’ box and type the word ‘alive’.  I quickly look for the one with the subject line ‘WTC’ and dated 9/12/2001.  I double click the message and smile as I see the words from my friend saying, “FZ, I’m alive!”  I usually let the message just sit there on my screen for awhile, and let that image overpower all the bad ones.  At some point I finally decide to close it, but before I do, I lift up a prayer of thanks for a friend that I thought I had lost, and for these two words from him that will always t...

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equaled again.  If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:21-22) Throughout my life, I’ve always looked forward to Christmas and the feeling of love that fills the air like no other day in the calendar year.  In contrast, I’ve never looked forward to Halloween.  It’s the one time of year that I’ve always associated with evil.  However, after last year, I’ve come to associate another day with evil…9/11.  Like most people, I remember the events of that day like no other.  I remember seeing tears strolling down a co-worker’s face as I walked into work.  I remember surfing the internet for hours, hoping against hope that it was only a nightmare.  I remember worrying about family and friends on the east coast, and fearing for their safety.  Bu...

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.  (Nahum 1:3) I’ve shed a lot of tears over the past 24 hours.  The images I’ve seen may never leave me.  The World Trade Center was a place I got engaged, worked, dined, awed, and toured as a child.  By the grace of God, on this one fateful day, I wasn't there.  Unfortunately, far too many people were.  I don’t think it’s quite hit home yet that a family member, former co-worker, friend, or friend of a friend could have died in the rubble of NYC yesterday.  Quite honestly, it would be a major miracle if that weren’t the case.  There are a large number of people I know who either worked in the area or know someone who did. It’s hard to comprehend how much hatred filled the hearts of the men who committed these acts, but I’m trying my hardest not to judge them.  I’ll leave that in the hands of Lord.  Instead I’m trying to channel my t...