9/11 is also Grandparents Day!

When looking at the calendar for September, I was surprised to see that not only is this year the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but that day is also by coincidence Grandparents Day. In the United States, Grandparents Day falls on the first Sunday after Labor Day, and this year it's on September 11. It also was on that same date back in 2005.

Because Grandparents Day is actually a lesser-known holiday, not too many Americans are aware it's celebrated on 9/11 this year, if they know about Grandparents Day at all. According the official website for National Grandparents Day Council:

The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. President Jimmy Carter, in 1978, proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.

The convergence of honoring grandparents with the heroes of 9/11 wasn't lost on me. I've been to Hawaii twice this year, so yesterday I created an aloha-themed commemorative drawing celebrating both events. In the above cartoon, little Keisha honors a firefighter with an open lei in the presence of her adopted mother Lee and grandparents. On the other side, little Joey gives a present to his Tutu (grandma in Hawaiian), a police officer. In the center, leis decorate pictures of the Twin Towers and the new World Trade Center, the latter which is now under construction.

As the cartoon invites us to, I also ask that we honor our grandmas and grandpas who have served our communities as first responders--police, fire, ambulance, and disaster response teams, including those grandparents who died saving the lives of others on September 11, 2001.

If you like the cartoon, I invite you to pass it on.

9/11 Reflections from Jack Hayford

The tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on America is only four days away. It's hard to believe it's now been a decade since we were horrified by the live TV images of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City collapse right before our eyes. It has rightfully been called the Pearl Harbor of our generation.

Today I read a thoughtful commentary by Jack Hayford, former senior pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California and past president of the Foursquare church denomination. Although he is a charismatic Christian and as such believes in "the gifts of the Holy Spirit" such as speaking in tongues and words of knowledge, he is also very rational, gracious and thoughtful in his theology and writings.

On September 11, 2001 Hayford was teaching at a pastors' conference in Williamsburg, VA, about 125 miles south of the Pentagon, when he was told what was happening in Washington and New York. His reaction to the day's horrific events and reflections afterward are posted in an article on his website titled "To Halt a Holocaust and Ignite a Holy Firestorm". Don't let that Pentecostal-sounding title scare you off. In his article, Hayford stresses that 9/11 was not God's judgment on America, nor was He judging the Christians in America. Instead, he calls on the church to pray and live God-pleasing lives so that a "holy firestorm" can be ignited through the testimony of our lips and our lives and the "holocaust" of evil around us can be fought down as the hearts of unbelievers--our future brothers and sisters in Christ, as Pastor Okubo likes to say--are softened and turned to faith in Christ.

Hayford's article is a good and timely read as we approach the 9/11 anniversary this Sunday. Read it by clicking here.

Authority from God

Happy Labor Day, everyone. I hope you are enjoying your day off from work and/or school like I am. Here is a devotional from the LCMS quarterly Portals of Prayer that was in our worship bulletin yesterday, and worth thinking about given the recent political climate in Washington over the debt ceiling and contenders for the 2012 presidential election.

Matthew tells how the Pharisees and the Herodians tried to trick Jesis. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" they asked (Matthew 22:17). If Jesus answered no, He would be in trouble with the Roman rulers for denying Caesar's authority. If Jesus said yes, the Pharisees would say He was betraying the Jewish nation by supporting Roman rule.

Looking at the coin that bore Caesar's image, Jesus simply said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (v. 21). Jesus revealed that we live under two authorities, Caesar's and God's, and that God has established both.

Today, we also rightly pay taxes, obey the laws established by legislators, and acknowledge heads of state. Some officials may be corrupt; even so, God has placed them in offices of authority over us.

Unline Caesar, God does not tax--He gives. He does not burden--He frees! In Christ, God came to bear our load and be our Savior. To Him alone belongs all our worship and praise!

Prayer: Lord, thank You for earthly government, that we may have peace and order in our daily lives, and Your sacrifice on the cross, which freed us from sin. Amen.