Churches October 2024

Thought for the Month

This September was the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attack on New York City. I will never forget the time we visited Ground Zero in 2014 on a cold February morning. We heard from two of the First Responders who were present on that day, and it was very moving to see how it still affected them as they told of their experiences and the colleagues, they remembered, who were tragically killed. Three thousand people died but around fourteen thousand were able to be rescued from the burning buildings. Many decisions had to be made in short periods of time. Janice Brooks worked for a brokerage firm on the 84th floor of the South Tower when the first plane hit the North Tower. She and her fellow workers had to make a decision on whether to stay or leave. She decided to leave even although the advice through the building’s communication speakers was that everyone should stay at their desks. She survived. Her co-workers who stayed died.

I hope, like everyone else, I shall never be in a similar situation. I do not know what I would have done had I been in her shoes. We all face potential life changing decisions sometimes without realizing the full meaning of our choices. Jesus called many people to follow Him. The disciples Peter and Andrew, James and John left their fisherman’s nets to follow him. They were unaware of all that was going to happen but they knew Jesus was the promised Messiah and he was worth following. 

Even when others left Jesus, they were asked by the Lord, “Do you want to go away too?” Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”  John chapter 6 verses 68-69.

Jesus told a parable about two sons (Matthew chapter 21 verses 28-32) who were asked by their father to work in his vineyard. One said he would go but didn’t and the other said he would not go but changed his mind and went. “Which one did the will of his father?” Jesus asked. “The one who went.” They replied. We might think we have made our decision about Jesus. Circumstances in our life can force us to think again! We can see Jesus through different eyes and we can change our mind. He wants us to follow Him, believe in Him, know our sins forgiven in Him and experience the joy of the Eternal life that only He can give. It is our choice whether we do or not.

Ian Neilly, Longhorsley Mission.

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