Remember September 11, 2001 and Moving Forward in Peace

We mustn't just remember the horrible details of that tragic day, but the lesson that we must learn from all tragic events and loss. We must attain Peace and move forward in harmony if the lives that were lost are to have a lasting meaning instead of just a tragic end.

  

Though common vernacular would dictate that I should say that I have always been a fan of John Denver I would rather use the words kindred spirit who has been amazed by his ability to move the human soul with his lyrics and music. I remember once that Jeni Stepanek had commented on one of my John Denver post. Jeni is the mother of Mattie Stepanek the young boy who inspires the world with his words and especially this phrase "Peace Is Possible". Like John, Mattie continues to inspire even though he has passed on. It is my opinion that this John Denver song that appears on his debut album from 1969 was prophetic. There are several lines that impress me and make feel that it is prophetic regarding the terrorist acts that changed our world on September 11, 2001. John wrote:

Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And it's colder than the sea

It gives me the chills to hear him sing these words and coupling them with the description many who were there in lower Manhattan that horrible day his lyrics in 1969 truly hit home!

As in all tragedy and loss we look for the lesson or the message that helps us to make sense of the event. I believe these next lines of John's song Rhymes and Reasons is our message and as Jeni Stepanek entitled her latest book Messenger I believe it is Mattie and his message of Peace that leads us to a better way.

It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Would clear a cloudy day

And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way.

Now it is up to us to listen, and follow their lead. Let us make their lives, their message a integral part of each and every day, of each and every word we write and say!

• •  To learn more about this truly remarkable young man who I believed received his message through Providential Divine Inspiration.: http://www.mattieonline.com/
    

    
    

    Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation - "Peace is possible!" — Mattie

    www.mattieonline.com
    
    
    

    

    
    Isaiah 11:6
    
    The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
    
    

Why Is It Thus We Are Here And So Soon We Are Gone

 Walter W. Dunwell 1941-2004

Why is it thus we are here
And so soon we are gone.

Remembering our full moon crabbing adventure on Barnegat Bay August 1985

Today would have been my brother Buddy's 71 birthday. I miss his physical presence but his personality and kindness while here was so huge that he truly has been with us all along. So many times in any given day something he said or did will just pop into my train of thought. He is so in our hearts, he could never be gone! Here is a picture of us when we were kids. He has his arm around my sister Ruth Ann and I am the one with my mom, Irene in the background, dad is taking the photograph, and David wasn't born yet. 

  For my older brother (Grand Pop) Buddy on what would have been his 71st birthday and the first one as a grandfather.

 On The Wings Of A Dream

Yesterday I had a dream about dying
About laying to rest and then flying
How the moment at hand
Is the only thing we really own
And I lay in my bed and I wonder
After all has been said and is done for
Why is it thus we are here
And so soon we are gone

Is this life just a path
To the place that we all have come from
Does the heart know the way
And if not can it ever be found
In a smile or a tear
Or a prayer or a sigh or a song

And if so I sing for my father
And in truth you must know I would rather
He were here by my side
We could fly on the wings of a dream
To a place where the spirit could find us
And joy and surrender would bind us
We are one anyway
Anyway we are more than we seem

There are those who will lead us
Protect us each step of the way
From beginning to end
For each moment forever each day
Such a gift has been given
It can never be taken away

Though the body in passing must leave us
There is one who remains to receive us
There are those in this life
Who are friends from our heavenly home
So I listen to the voices inside me
For I know they are there just to guide me
And my faith will proclaim it is so
We are never alone

From the life to the light
From the dark of the night to the dawn
He is so in my heart
He is here he could never be gone
Though the singer is silent
There still is the truth of the song

Yesterday I had a dream about dying
About laying to rest and then flying
How the moment at hand
Is the only thing we really own

And I lay in my bed and I wonder
After all has been said and is done for
Why is it thus we are here
And so soon we are gone
Why is it thus we are here
And so soon we are gone
Words and music by John Denver

How Prayers Are Answered

A few days ago I received a call from a loved one who was distraught that her brother who has a mental illness had stopped taking his medication and was missing for over two weeks. Because he was last seen at the edge of a major river, we both had feared that perhaps he had fallen in and could have drowned. There was extra reason to worry as he had not shown up at his former place of residence to pick up his S.S.D. check which would have helped him survive.

He had been hearing voices, and was fearful that he was sought after by the CIA, and FBI. Not one of his old friends had seen him, and everyone who was close to him was worried. I had expressed to his sister that I could help her search for him in  his hometown, which is about fifty miles away.  His sister lives about sixty miles south west of me. We decided that we could get together on the Tuesday after Labor Day, and drive up to the area where he was last seen.

Last night both of us prayed that he would be alive, and that we would soon find him. Today I got up early, did some household chores, and my daughter, granddaughter and I did my grocery shopping for our planned Labor Day picnic. On the way home I realized that I had forgotten a few things and that later we would have to go to the local store downtown to pick them up.

Around 3:30 my daughter had mentioned that she was going to the pharmacy to pick up anti acids for her indigestion. I told her that I would tag along so we could stop at the store for those few things. My husband said he would keep and eye on my granddaughter who was playing a game on the Internet.

Normally, I would have gone over a bridge that leads to the downtown area just down the road, but it had been closed for repairs a few weeks ago, so I had to take a detour that heads up to the intersection of two major highways.

We passed a rather disheveled hitchhiker at the intersection. I looked at his appearance and thought that he would have a hard time getting a ride.  It then hit me like a brick that it possibly could have been our missing loved one. My daughter said she couldn't believe it was him, and I had not shared with her the fact that he had been missing.

We were after all fifty miles west of where he had gone missing over three weeks earlier. I still could not go on without checking him out one more time. I had to drive into town to turn around and then make another turn around to end up on the right side of this highway. I slowed as I passed and was thankful that a PA State Trooper was parked approximately five hundred feet away from the man, in case it wasn't the missing loved one.

As we approached the hitchhiker we immediately recognized him as the missing loved one. My daughter yelled his name, and he responded. We pulled off to the side of the road, I put on the four way flashers, and the State Trooper got out of his car and quickly approached us. He asked the missing man if he knew us and he answered with my daughter's name, and we showed our identification.

I had told him that the man's sister had reported him missing and there was supposedly an all states bulletin regarding him. The trooper had said that he had already checked his credentials and found no such bulletin. I told him what town to check, and he went to his vehicle and had the dispatcher check and found that there was a missing person's report out on him. We called the man's sister on my cell phone and told her the good news. She was ecstatic, and told me that she was on her way to my house to pick him up ASAP. We followed the trooper back to the barracks where he checked everything out and released him to my care until his sister could get to my home to pick him up.

I am sharing this story without giving away the identity of the people involved. I needed to show everyone how the power of prayer works. So many pieces had to be in place to bring this child of GOD into the care of those who love him. He had not eaten in two days, was thirsty, had injuries on his arms, and was aching and tired. He had not bathed in over three weeks. He suffers from schizophrenia an illness that is feared, yet is just as real as diabetes, or high blood pressure. People with mental illness often receive our disdain, instead of compassion.

It is amazing to me that he had wondered into my area fifty miles west of his last sighting. It is amazing to me that my daughter and I set out to the store for the forgotten items at that very moment when he was on the highway that I would not have traversed if it had not been that the bridge to the town was closed for repairs three weeks earlier. It amazes me that the trooper showed up then as I feared stopping, in case it was not the loved one that I knew so well. GOD put all those pieces together. HE was perfectly in charge, and I am thankful that HE knew that I cared enough to help this loved one in his time of need.

I had just been listening to the John Denver song "On The Wings Of A Dream" this morning. These words came back to me as I pondered this amazing experience of today:

There are those in this life

Who are friends from our heavenly home

So I listen to the voices inside me

For I know they are there just to guide me

And my faith will proclaim it is so

We are never alone.

Another song comes to mind:

Lord, Make us instruments of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let your love increase

Lord, make us instruments of your peace,

Walls of pride and prejudice shall cease

When we are your instruments of peace.

Where there is hatred, we will show his love

Where there is injury, we will never judge

Where there is striving, we will speak his peace

To the millions crying for release,

We will be his instruments of peace

Lord, Make us instruments of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let your love increase

Lord, make us instruments of your peace,

Walls of pride and prejudice shall cease

When we are your instruments of peace.

Where there is blindness, we will pray for sight

where there is darkness, we will shine his light

Where there is sadness, we will bear their grief

To the millions crying for relief,

We will be your instruments of peace.