...more than 300 firemen dead.Three hundred firemen. This is the part that reorders your mind when you think of it. For most of the 5,000 dead were there--they just happened to be there, in the buildings, at their desks or selling coffee or returning e-mail. But the 300 didn't happen to be there, they went there. In the now-famous phrase, they ran into the burning building and not out of the burning building. They ran up the stairs, not down, they went into it and not out of it. They didn't flee, they charged. It was just before 9 a.m. and the shift was changing, but the outgoing shift raced to the towers and the incoming shift raced with them. That's one reason so many were there so quickly, and the losses were so heavy. Because no one went home. They all came.
I say fireman and not "firefighter." We're all supposed to say firefighter, but they were all men, great men, and fireman is a good word. Firemen put out fires and save people, they take people who can't walk and sling them over their shoulders like a sack of potatoes and take them to safety. That's what they do for a living. You think to yourself: Do we pay them enough? You realize: We couldn't possibly pay them enough. And in any case a career like that is not about money.
Let us not forget the lives of many others who sacrificed their lives to save others and families of those who perished in the flames on this earth.
"Some wish to live within the soundC.T. Studd was an incredible man who gave up wealth and fame to live a life of incomparable joy for the glory of God in three mission fields: China, India, and Africa. He was already growing in reputation as a skilled cricket player in England at the age of 16, when his soul was wondrously regenerated by the grace of God. After six years of backsliding and turning away from his first love, the Lord brought him to a point of recommitment and renewal of purpose, love, and joy.
of Church or Chapel bell;
I want to run a Rescue Shop
within a yard of hell." - C.T. Studd
I love books. I stick with non-fiction 99% of the time, so you could say my diet of books is relatively tame. But there’s one major problem: I’m not disciplined. I have at least 20 books that I’ve started at one point or another, and they’re just sitting around the house. I haven’t finished any of them! That’s not to say I’ve never read a book in its entirety – but I definitely struggle with reading one book all the way through.
Sometimes I’ll purchase a book, thinking it will be fascinating – and it is… for the first ten pages. Then it’s move-on-to-another-book, maybe one from the library this time. And the vicious cycle continues. It is not a wise use of the time God has given me – and it doesn’t help me learn anything, either.
I was talking to a gentleman a few months ago, who has a passion for studying God’s Word. This man tackles one subject at a time – if it is the Book of Revelation, then he might have several commentaries on that topic, but that’s his main reading focus. Perhaps he’ll also read a biography of Jonathan Edwards on the side, since going through several commentaries takes a considerable amount of time – but his reading habits don’t manifest confusion, as I admit they do in my own life.
We also discussed how it’s easy to read a book and then promptly forget the main points you had wanted to remember. That seems to me like a time-waster, and we postulated that summarizing the “big things” you want to remember during & after you read a book would be beneficial. Sometimes I do that, actually, but keeping track of a zillion Post-It notes scattered throughout the home (along with six notebooks) doesn’t aid the process.
Action points:
Do you struggle with this at all? Any ideas or suggestions?
“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12
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