Many will be asked if they remember what they were doing 11 years ago on this date. As many have said, it was a beautiful Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, the beauty of the day was shattered by the most horrific occurrence to the United States since Pearl Harbor was attacked in World War II. Most Americans were impacted by this unthinkable attack on the center of world trade, America's Military headquarters, and the avoided attack by a group of heroes on board United Airlines flight 93. It was a time of unity. One of which unfortunately faded all to fast.....
Regardless of where you live, troubling and sometimes tragic events occur. While the impact may be felt by a few folks, it is still a horrible time. In 1978, such a time occurred in the life of the band Chicago.
They had produced 11 albums since their debut, Chicago Transit Authority, most of which received a number designation as the title and received commercial and critical success. But with the 12th album Chicago decided to go a different direction. 1978 was a terrible year for Chicago, one in fact the band barely survived. They had just split with long time producer, James William Guercio. In that same year, Terry Kath, lead vocalist on the song "Color My World" would die from an accidental gunshot. Chicago did survive both of these dramatic events and went on to produce their 12th album entitled Hot Streets. After having survived all the turmoil of 1978, the band decided to release as the debut single the aptly titled, "Alive Again". It was dedicated to the memory of Terry Kath. Here's Chicago with an assist from ice skaters Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Many times in the Bible we read stories of strength and courage in the face of adversity. In fact, Paul's letter to the Hebrews details some of the faith heroes of the Israelite nation. The Message paraphrase has an interesting take on this Faith Hall of Fame.
http://www.biblegateway.com/
Notice that Paul prefaces each of the stories with the qualifier, "By faith". These Bible heroes weren't able to do any of their mighty acts on their own. They had the faith that God would provide everything they needed at the exact time they needed it. Take a moment and reflect on your life. Have their been times when you were sure you couldn't accomplish a task and just about the time you were ready to give up, something occurs that enables you to do it? The world would describe this as fate, or good karma, but as Christians we know that it is God. He controls everything, even life itself. Not counting the glorious resurrection of our Savior, Jesus, there were 7 times that the Bible records God intervening in a individual situation where someone had died, both in the Old Testament as well as in the New. A very good article detailing these resurrections and more can be found here:
http://stronginfaith.org/
In short, these people died and God made them Alive Again.
The Bible promises that all peoples will be made alive again. Where they will spend that time after their earthly death is their choice. God is the very center of that eternity. People choose now whether they will be with Him or separated from Him. One place is heaven, the other is hell. Friend, honestly consider what choice you have made.
On this very special day, we realize that in a moment the choices we make could very well determine the future we have. As a country we should again be unifying around these peoples and their families sacrifice. As Christians we should be glorifying the One who can make us......alive again.
We Will Never Forget!
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving you,
Randy
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