Do You Remember When?
Sitting in the back office of a convenience store in St Johns, Michigan, I was just in the beginning stages of a manager interview with one of our district managers. We had only started the introduction phase of the interview, when one of the CSR’s knocked on the office door. When I opened the door, I was told I had an emergency phone call from one of the other DM’s. “Just thought you might want to turn on your TV... One of the World Trade Center towers has just been hit by a plane.” “OK”, I said... “After we get done with our interview”.
15 minutes later...
There was another knock on the door... informing me of another phone call... “You’d better turn on the TV! A second plane just hit the other tower! We’re under attack!”. We stopped the interview at that point and turned on the TV. After a brief moment of watching the horrors taking place in New York, our interviewee politely asked, “is it all right if I leave so I can call my brother? He works at the World Trade Center.” Without a second thought, we let her leave as we continued to watch the devastation of the attack on September 11th.
That was 18 years ago this week...
.
But the memory is still burned in my mind as fresh as the day it happened. Everyone’s lives were changed that day as our nation plunged headlong into a war on terror against the perpetrators of this heinous attack on our country. But there was also a prophesied turn of events that took place that day... a calling... a flow... a call to press into God... a call to allow the Holy Spirit to release his power and presence in our lives...
Listen to what was prophesied to us 2,773 years ago in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 30:25...
“In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill”.
On that day... September 11th... did your ears hear His voice? Mine did! I’d be willing to wager your ears heard it too. It was a call to press into God. On that day, when the towers fell, there was a new ushering in of Holy Spirit power and presence, the likes have never been seen... never been experienced before September 11, 2001. His presence is not like a little reflection pool, where we can all gather around and look at our reflection. We’re talking rushing water... white water rushing down from every high mountain... every lofty hill. We can’t gingerly step into white water... we need to jump in and let the flow of the Holy Spirit carry us away from who we were to who He intended us to be... so immersed in His Spirit, His reflection is all others see in us.
Don’t miss this!
Don’t stand on the bank and let this opportunity... this white water pass you by! What’s holding you back? Is it fear? Fear of losing control of your life and letting the Lord have full control? Maybe, like I have done in the past, you’ve put together a plan for your life and invited God to come along... kind of like a passenger on your tour bus of life with you as the driver. Maybe you tried this whole God Life before and it didn’t take... or you got hurt... really bad... so now you’re going it alone... God‘s not even invited.
Trust me on this when I tell you... Doing life without God is not a good idea. I’ve tried it before and things got ugly fast... and when I turned back to God with my messed up life, he lovingly turned me in the right direction and said, “this is the way... walk in it”.
So... here we are together watching the white water rush by us with our feet getting wet with the mist of the Holy Spirit. Will you join me in pushing past the fear and do this. Are you ready? Okay... Ready.... Set...
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