It was a morning like any other morning. I got up, crawled out of bed, ate breakfast, showered and quietly slipped off to work.

I had a meeting that morning like a lot of unmemorable mornings, but this particular meeting would be seared into my memory like perhaps no other meeting will ever be again. But then again, who knows?

For only a few states over, less than 700 miles to our east, nearly 3000 of our fellow Americans, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, would enter eternity that day. And of course you all probably know the day of which I speak was September 11, 2001.

In the World Trade Center, people whose day started out just like yours and mine suddenly found themselves lost, terrified and in the dark in what was previously very comfortable and familiar surroundings.

In the same manner, concert goers in Las Vegas, left their homes with high expectations and hopes of an exciting evening out on the town with friends and loved ones, and perhaps expectations of meeting someone new and eventually sharing those memories. What they left with was something that no one should have to experience – more than 50 dead to some random gunmen with an ax to grind at no one in particular.

The past couple of decades have been a powerful reminder of life’s unpredictability and how quickly fortunes can change. However, it doesn’t have to be some massive terrorist attack, or natural disaster that can quickly throw us off balance or make us feel lost in this sometimes harsh and seemingly unforgiving world.

It could be when your child is suddenly diagnosed with terminal cancer, or your alcoholic parent won’t stop drinking, even when it’s tearing the family apart, or perhaps your mind is consumed with feelings of anxiety and depression, it can seem like you’re suddenly stumbling around lost and confused, unbalanced and terrified about the potential loss of someone close, or carefree living.

It is stuff like this we try to forget. Even if our life is directly or indirectly affected by some tragedy, we put an extraordinary amount of effort into not thinking about it, or rather replacing these thoughts with something more appealing like entertainment, work, or just plain business.

You see it everywhere, anywhere you go where people might have a spare moment to think, self included, faces and thoughts are buried in a smart phone or tablet. Perhaps dreaming about far away places so as not to get bogged down with idle time to think.

When tragedy does however strike in our lives, we can sometimes become like those victims in the World Trade Center wandering through the smoke-filled and darkened corridors hoping someone will grab our outstretched hands or call to us and guide us safely to the exit.

Wouldn’t it have been odd for one of those lost souls in the World Trade Center to slap away the hand of a firefighter or rescuer who had come to save them?

I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you that when we reject the hand of a rescuer, it is exactly like rejecting Jesus Christ’s offer for salvation, but it is metaphorically similar.  No analogies are ever perfect, but the point of this one is this – This world is on fire! The twenty-four hour news cycle makes that abundantly clear. Covid-19, civil unrest, and the riots all drive home the point, that there is much to fear in this present world and very few places to hide.

Oh, I know it is different in that the people in the World Trade Center understood their immediate need for saving. Once the building rocked and the rooms filled up with thick black smoke they understood the gravity of their situation.

Envelopment in darkness where once there was light changes the landscape. Anyone who’s ever been lost in the woods after dark understands this. And where once well-established paths, lighted corridors, and exit signs brightly presented themselves, now only darkness.

We’re probably all familiar with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

But are you familiar with the very next verse.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

I think we all understand that tragedy eventually strikes us all. And most of us understand that we need someone to hope in greater than ourselves, a savior. In fact, Jesus himself said, in John 16:33 –

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Unfortunately, I don’t have time in this short period to totally convince you that Jesus is the one, but I do hope to encourage you to look into the matter.  I think the greatest danger in this modern world is to place our faith in the wrong person, religion or belief system. 

We are all too familiar with tales of superheroes and heroines. You know the Avengers, Earth’s mightiest heroes and all the tight wearing superheroes we shell out millions and millions of dollars to go see, every year, but inside we all know its a fake. Super heroes are fictitious beings we can only dream of, the way a young child daydreams about how to protect himself against the bully, but in reality we know they are not coming. Iron Man is not going to bust through the door and stop a husband from beating his wife.

But the Christ story is true. God really did send his son to live among us, but people throughout the ages have doubted this, or have moments of doubt. Even John the Baptist who himself was sent to announce the arrival of Jesus had moments of doubt.

Matthew 11:2-10 relates the story. When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.”

Not only did John announce Jesus coming and what he was coming to accomplish, but so did Isaiah, hundreds of years before in Isaiah 42:16“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.”

The Avengers, earth’s mightiest heroes, are not going to save you, they are comic book heroes and Marvel creations.

Jesus is the real deal. We all know the first thing that comes out of people’s mouths when disaster strikes is……”OH GOD!”

Don’t wait until that moment strikes. Take time this year and in the coming new year to get to know the Savior now before its too late.  For starters read the Gospels of Luke and John, and the Book of Acts in the New Testament of the Bible, and the book of Isaiah from the Old Testament.  And don’t be passive about it either.  Each time you sit down to read, pray a simple prayer –

“God, I’m confused by all the noise in this world, so many different religions, so many different philosophies, so many different competing offers for rescue and salvation – please reveal yourself to me and show me the way.  I seek the truth and want to know who you really are.” 

God’s promises to us!

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8