An hour or so after 9-1-1's triple tragedies my friend, Gary Bowker said to me, "The world will never be the same." He was right.
It's not the first time a shroud of darkness has been pulled over history.
Psalm 104 was written during a time when a contagious wickedness seemed to have infected everything. Perhaps it was a time like ours. How should we respond to the epidemic of suffering we see in the world, to the reign of terror, to the decay of society, to the celebration of ugliness, to the horrors inflicted on the powerless and especially on children? Reading Psalm 104 is one of God's elixirs for despair.
Until the collapse of the World Trade Center, the area around the base of the twin towers was about what you'd expect, with shops, restaurants and small islands of landscaping floating on the vast sea of concrete. A Callery pear tree had been growing near Building 5. After the collapse of the towers, the tree lay crushed, burned, and partially separated from its roots by the deluge of falling debris.
During clean-up efforts, the tree was nearly scooped up with the rest of the 1.8 million tons of debris. But workers convinced the New York City Parks Department to give the tree a chance. So they trimmed away all that was dead and burned, planted it in good rich soil and gave it the best care. Today the tree has a name--Survivor--and it has been planted near the footprint of the South Tower, as a sign of hope and promise.
We can think of Psalm 104 as a Callery pear tree, testifying to the absolute faithfulness of God reflected in creation. When trouble overcomes you, take a walk outside. The light that greets you belongs to God. The clouds that drift overhead are God's. Everything you can see--the street, a water tower, a tree--all of it belongs to God. Everything you can't see--the wind, the aquifer, the Internet--all that is God's too. Despite its great weight, the earth does not fall, but by God's design it floats in its place, immovable.
When life's not going your way take Psalm 104 with you and go for walk outside. Lie down on the ground and see what glories you can recognize in the clouds. The whole universe is God's reminder that the power at work in creation is also at work in your life today.
Written by: Dave Peterson
It's not the first time a shroud of darkness has been pulled over history.
Psalm 104 was written during a time when a contagious wickedness seemed to have infected everything. Perhaps it was a time like ours. How should we respond to the epidemic of suffering we see in the world, to the reign of terror, to the decay of society, to the celebration of ugliness, to the horrors inflicted on the powerless and especially on children? Reading Psalm 104 is one of God's elixirs for despair.
Until the collapse of the World Trade Center, the area around the base of the twin towers was about what you'd expect, with shops, restaurants and small islands of landscaping floating on the vast sea of concrete. A Callery pear tree had been growing near Building 5. After the collapse of the towers, the tree lay crushed, burned, and partially separated from its roots by the deluge of falling debris.
During clean-up efforts, the tree was nearly scooped up with the rest of the 1.8 million tons of debris. But workers convinced the New York City Parks Department to give the tree a chance. So they trimmed away all that was dead and burned, planted it in good rich soil and gave it the best care. Today the tree has a name--Survivor--and it has been planted near the footprint of the South Tower, as a sign of hope and promise.
We can think of Psalm 104 as a Callery pear tree, testifying to the absolute faithfulness of God reflected in creation. When trouble overcomes you, take a walk outside. The light that greets you belongs to God. The clouds that drift overhead are God's. Everything you can see--the street, a water tower, a tree--all of it belongs to God. Everything you can't see--the wind, the aquifer, the Internet--all that is God's too. Despite its great weight, the earth does not fall, but by God's design it floats in its place, immovable.
When life's not going your way take Psalm 104 with you and go for walk outside. Lie down on the ground and see what glories you can recognize in the clouds. The whole universe is God's reminder that the power at work in creation is also at work in your life today.
Written by: Dave Peterson