9/11 • 10 Years Later

“Eventually, September the 11th will be a date on the calendar. It will be like Pearl Harbor Day. For those of us who lived through it, it will be a day we’ll never forget.” – Former President George W. Bush, in an interview with the National Geographic Society, 2011

Time passes. The older I get, the more I realize that time passes, and seems to pass more quickly each year. Today’s events are tomorrow’s memories, and tomorrow’s memories soon become historical events. I was a freshman in high school during the 40th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This year marks 150 years since the start of the American Civil War. Next April will mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking.

And then there is today: The 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

The September 11th attacks are still emotion-laden memory for most of us, but it will not be many years before the events of that day become just another item in a newspaper’s “This Day in History” feature – an important item, to be sure, but, still, just another historical event, like Pearl Harbor or the Titanic.

And yet, near or far, minor or momentous, anniversaries are important. They allow us to reexamine things; things that we think, things that we feel, things that we know. And to reexamine these things in the light of what we have learned since.

I would urge you to spend some time today in quiet reflection on the events from 10 years ago. May I suggest the following video, a panel discussion from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as a “jumpstart” to your reflections?

911 Panel Discussion from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.

Some Musings on the Passing of Elizabeth Taylor

"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2

I turned on my computer this morning only to learn that Elizabeth Taylor had died at the age of 79.

I’m not a huge Elizabeth Taylor fan. (Indeed, I'm not a huge fan of any movie star.) I only own two of her movies, Ivanhoe & Cleopatra. And I only own them because they’re good movies, not because she was in them. (In fact, Cleopatra really belongs to Mrs Squirrel, and my copy of Ivanhoe is on VHS, and I've not had a working VCR in years...)

So, why am I writing about Elizabeth Taylor’s death? While I was reading her obituary this morning, it reminded me of something I’ve thought of often – what people say they want out of life.

It seems that we, humans in general & Americans in particular, admire & desire several things: beauty, wealth, & fame. These are the things that we think will make us happy in life. The entire advertising industry’s goal is to play off of these desires to make us buy things (and they’re quite good at it.) Health clubs, gymnasiums, and spas provide us with places where we can work hard to try to prolong our youthful physiques as long as possible. (I am not knocking good health. I know that I need to exercise more myself, and could probably improve my food choices.)

The sad thing is that it is clear that beauty, wealth, & fame are not able to make anyone happy or fulfilled. Indeed, a cursory examination of the headlines displayed on the magazines by the checkout stand at your local grocery store would indicate that the people who possess the beauty, wealth, and fame that everyone else desires are among the most miserable and messed up people around. (Exhibit A: Charlie Sheen. Exhibit B: Lindsay Lohan.)

There’s no doubt that Elizabeth Taylor possessed wealth & fame and, in her youth, beauty. There is also no doubt that Elizabeth Taylor lived a fairly messed up life. She had several affairs with married men, some while she was married herself. She was married and divorced multiple times. She spent time in rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. In later life, she struggled with obesity. In short, Elizabeth Taylor exhibited all the hallmarks of a sinful human being.

Sadly, there’s absolutely no indication that she had repented of her sin and trusted in Christ alone for salvation. Her obituary in the New York Times makes absolutely no mention of any religious faith whatsoever.

In her life, Elizabeth Taylor possessed all the things that people think will make them happy and fulfilled, yet an examination of her life does not paint the picture of a happy and fulfilled woman. Instead, it is a portrait of an unhappy woman, struggling to find fulfillment in romance, sex, and a lifestyle of lavish self-indulgence.

Elizabeth Taylor’s passing from this life into the next is a good time to remind ourselves that true happiness and fulfillment can only be found in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12

Remembering Ronald Reagan

“There are no easy answers but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.”

– Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States

Today would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday. Or, as Reagan would have us say it, the 71st anniversary of his 29th birthday.

Ronald Reagan will always be "my" president.

Ronald Reagan was not president when I was born, that was Lyndon Johnson. Ronald Reagan is not the first president I can remember, that would be Richard Nixon. Since the day I was born, there have been 8 men other than Ronald Reagan who have sat in the Oval Office, but Ronald Reagan will always be “my” president.

You see, Reagan was president during those formative years of my late teens and early twenties. He was elected during my freshman year of high school, and, when he ran for reelection against Walter Mondale in 1984, was the first president I ever voted for. Reagan alone is not responsible for shaping my political philosophy; my father played a big role in that, as did books by Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein and others; but Reagan’s beliefs were a huge influence. (My commitment to Biblical truth has further shaped my thoughts on politics, of course.) Of all the presidents who’ve served before, I’d have to say that Reagan’s politics are still the closest to my own.

During the 1990's, I had, in many ways, forgotten how much Ronald Reagan had meant to me, and to the United States. Due to the tragedy of his Alzheimer’s, he had been forced to withdraw from public life, and he wasn't in the news often. Other than the frequent mentions he got on talk radio, I didn’t think about him as I went about my daily routine.

And then, on June 5, 2004, word came of his death, and a strange sadness came over me. A sadness I’d never felt about a death outside of my own family. I knew that, though I’d never met him, I had lost someone very dear to me.

All that week, either the radio or the television was on to coverage of his life and the services that were held to honor him. I watched the thousands file past as his body lay in state at the Reagan Library in California. I cried. I explained to my then 13-year-old daughter why I was sad, and why this man had been so special. I watched as the horse-drawn caisson carried his body down Constitution Avenue to that slow, slow, painfully mournful drumbeat. I cried. I listened to the service from the National Cathedral in Washington, and watched the final service that took place during that beautiful sunset at the Regan Library in California as he was laid to rest on the evening of Friday, June 11, 2004. And I cried.

Since that time, I have become a more deliberate student of Reagan; his life, his character, and his politics. And, as I have, my respect and admiration for him has only grown more profound. Ronald Reagan wasn’t perfect, of course, no mere mortal man is, but he lived a life more admirable than most.

As we remember Ronald Reagan today, remember that, for a time, God blessed us with a very special leader, and give thanks.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President. Thank you, and God bless the United States of America.