SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

Where were you on September 11, 2001?  I had just attended my Groveton High School class of 1961 reunion back in Virginia.  Of the classmates pictured above two of them have passed away since that reunion.  I have kept in touch with several others.  We had concluded that reunion on Sunday, September 9.  Many had headed for home.  My husband, Chris, and I were staying in Alexandria and had planned to go into Washington D.C. and do some sight seeing with our friends Nancy Lukehart and Charlie Pavey.  We managed to take in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on Monday the 10th.  On Tuesday the 11th we hoped on the train to head in to DC.  Suddenly someone said to somebody on their phone, "I can't believe they bombed the Pentagon."  We looked in that direction and saw the black smoke.  We looked at each other and said, "Today is not a good day to go into the city."  We got off at the next stop and headed back to Alexandria.  

Enjoying a meal with Nancy and Charlie

To make a long story short we were trapped in Alexandria until Saturday before we could get a flight back to Seattle on the day of my cousin Heather's wedding at Ft. Lewis.  We arrived just in time for the wedding.  Chris and our daughter Heather took the pictures. 

Heather and her dad

I found out later that I have two cousins where were born on September 11.  I will never forget their birthdays again.

Laurie has a September 11 birthday

Diana has a September 11 birthday

James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

SOUND WORDS

Samantha's baptism

My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins on the day of my cousin Bob's baptism.

Believers baptism--  Grace, Mary, Wayne

I was baptized as an infant at St. Paul's Methodist church in Spokane.  I remember claiming John 3:16 as a young child and knowing that I believed.  Then at 15, after attending Confirmation Class at Calvary Presbyterian church in Alexandria, VA., and attending church camp, God began convicting me of my sin. I wrote down the sins I was struggling with.  I  put 2 sheets of what I had written behind the mirror over my dresser in my room. They caught in the paper backing and stayed there all through my parent's moves.  When my dad passed away 45 years later I took the mirror to hang in my home.  The backing tore and the 2 sheets of paper fell out.  I saw what sins I was struggling with then.  They were in line with the sins I struggle with now!

Even with all of this background I was biblically illiterate.  My husband, Chris, challenged me.  He said, "You don't know why you believe what you believe." I asked the Lord to make me love studying the Bible.  He did!  Now, after 40 years of studying the Bible I can defend my faith.  I know "why I believe what I believe."  

The "Sound Words" or the "Good News" is much easier to explain to others now.  I am no longer a sheeple--"People who are meekly submissive or easily swayed.  People who unquestioningly accept as true whatever their political leaders say or who adopt popular opinion as their own without scrutiny."  I check to see how different issues line up with the Word of God.  I read and memorize God's Word so that I can discern good and evil. I pray that every Christian will study the Bible and use the Gospel as a plumb line.

WHEN WEARING A PPE MASK YOU ....

My 2020 birthday party

When wearing a PPE mask you...
Can't sip a refreshing drink...

Can't eat anything...

Can't blow your nose...
Can't see my smile...
Can't do vigorous exercise and still breath deeply...
Can't smell my bad breath...

Can't  smell the bad smell in a porta potty...

You can color coordinate with your wardrobe...

What do you do and not do while wearing a mask?

THE IRISH BLESSING

The Irish Blessing - over 300 churches from our island sing a blessing over Ireland and beyond ...

REDEFINING RACIAL RECONCILIATION

       

               

Years ago we attended a church led by a pastor of Latino ancestry.  He didn't want to be considered Mexican American.  He said, "I'm just Mike."  So anyone who was born in America is just an American.  Today on World Magazine Darrell B. Harrison and Virgil Walker were interviewed.  To hear the truth about racial reconciliation watch the You Tube above or listen to this podcast.

ONLY 9 YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET FROM CLIMATE CHANGE OR WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE— NOT

How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change/ Allan Savory

My mom was the greatest recycler I've ever known.  I remember one time, during a visit to my parents place in Hornbrook, CA, that my mom had saved so many packing peanuts that the bed of the old Dodge truck was quite full of various containers of them.  My mom, dad, niece Jennifer, and son Jes drove miles and miles to take them to a recycler who wanted them.  Other family stories include these -My great aunt and great uncle, Aunty and Beanie, polished their teeth with a clean handkerchief instead of using a toothbrush and toothpaste.  My dad straightened used nails and saved them in saved tin cans.  My youngest brother, Wayne, carried a reusable water container before everyone started buying water in plastic bottles.  One time a child of some of our friends tossed a pop can into Coeur D'Alene Lake.  I told him he was a litterbug.  He grew up to work in water quality.  

As Biblical Christians we read in God's Word Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” -- So we are to subdue the earth.  But that doesn't mean we worship "Mother Nature" or fear that God will allow us to destroy the earth.  We have no worries that the earth will be destroyed in 9 years and that we will die.  God has told us what he will do with the earth in His time ( Revelation 21:1-27.)  We have free will.  We can go along with God's plan or we can rebel against it.  Here is a link to a blog I found quite informative written by one of Jes's high school friends on this subject.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Heather and Jes 1978

For many years I have enjoyed watching Hallmark Christmas movies in July.  They bring out my good will and cheer.  And every year in July Chris remarks that when the Seahawks start training Christmas is here.  This year it doesn't seem like Christmas at all.  Yes, there are Hallmark Christmas movies showing all month, the Seahawks are attempting to figure out how to train--  but, and this time in our nation is more difficult than ever-- we are dealing with Covid 19, race riots, anarchy, and bad will to those who disagree with our beliefs.  

So how is a Christian to deal with all of this?  We opine as Longfellow wrote-- And in despair I bowed my head; "There is no peace on earth," I said; "For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!" Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: "God is not dead, nor doth he sleep! The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.

So we put on our masks, (Heather is wearing a mask in the picture above as she had a cold), we go out and do good, and we pray.  God will prevail!