Tag: anniversary

Twenty Years Later

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?
But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.

Psalm 10:12-14

I had just come down to the living room and turned on the TV. Every channel was covering the same news story. I was in a little apartment by myself in Texas. A couple weeks prior, I had moved my entire life from Baltimore, Maryland to Waco, Texas in order to attend seminary. I had decided to skip my morning class that Tuesday and sleep in a little. It only took me a few minutes of watching to realize that nothing would ever be the same.

Here I was a guy sitting in central Texas who was born and raised in the northeast and went to college in the northeast watching multiple terrorist attacks happen in the northeast. I felt powerless. I had a strange sense of wanting to get home and yet simultaneously glad that I wasn’t there. I was worried about my friends and family and wondered where they were. While the Twin Towers were three hours from my house, the Pentagon was only 45 minutes away. Where Flight 93 crashed was only two hours from my college.

Disbelief. Shock. Anger. More disbelief. More shock. Horror. Helplessness. These feelings cycled through on repeat. I was glued to the TV. I remember not wanting to even go to the bathroom because I had to bear witness to the Pearl Harbor of my generation.

The second plane hit the second tower. Somebody do something! The second tower fell first. Oh my goodness! The first tower fell second. Get out of there! Clouds of ash. People covered in blood and ash. People wandering around disoriented. News broadcasters speechless. Lord, have mercy.

I watched all day. I watched until there wasn’t anything left to watch and then I kept watching. I was alone in that little apartment and yet, somehow, I was also deeply connected to the rest of the country who was also watching in horror. In shock. In disbelief. And we all knew.

Nothing would ever be the same.

Steadfast Love

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 

Revelation 1:9

John was on the island of Patmos, exiled for his faith in Jesus. He was an old man. He witnessed most of the other early disciples be executed for their faith. Surely he saw many abandon their faith under the pressure of persecution. But not John. As he wrote to other believers about the vision that he saw, he called himself a “companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus.”

What does it take to have that kind of patient endurance? What does it take to stick to your commitments? Surely there is a bit of struggle along the way whether one is committing to their spouse, their church, or to Jesus. Surely John had opportunities to give up, yet he remained true to the end.

As I get older, I am less and less impressed with the flash of starting something new. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve started new things a few different times and starting new things is hard work. But I am just more and more impressed with perseverance these days. Eugene Peterson called it “a long obedience in the same direction.” This is what it takes to finish a marathon and finish well in life. It’s the ability to stay with something through thick and thin. There is a richness there that can’t be acquired in any other way.

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. My wife and I are going to celebrate as 15 years married is no small thing! My parents and my in-laws have been married for nearly 50 years. As I get older I am more and more impressed with that kind of commitment. The commitment it takes to stick through hard things and not quit, not bail out. It seems more and more rare in our culture these days.

John’s reward for his patient endurance, his faithfulness to the end, was that the glorified presence of Jesus stood in his midst and spoke to him directly. John said:

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feetand with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

Revelation 1:12-16

This was such a gift. The glorified presence of Jesus standing right next to John. This was just the beginning of his reward for his steadfast faithfulness and patient endurance. Jesus himself was the one who said:

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:9-14

The one who stands firm to the end is the one who didn’t let their love grow cold. This applies to marriage. This applies to being an active part of the church. This applies most of all to our relationship with Jesus. Keeping the fire of our love burning bright, tending the fire, keeping fuel on the fire, these are key to longstanding commitments. It is love that is our most powerful weapon, and it will be love that keeps us faithful to the end.