Memorials - Past, Present, and Future

These past few weeks have been remarkably eventful. It is so easy to live in your corner of the world until you are reminded that no corner is spared from the darkness of life on earth. Some days are good days and others are like the ones we've had recently. Natural disasters abound. Tragedy strikes near and far without reason. Personal loss is suffered. I have had enough opportunities over the past couple of years to learn what it is that I might take away from such events. I am reminded to live my best life and to love as best as I can in the unknown time that I have. Even with that knowledge, I think that on some level, I fail so often. I want to do better, but I also want to understand more of how I can make something good come of all the bad things that I am experiencing or witnessing around me.

In the past couple of weeks, I have been reminded of some difficult memories from my past. Hurricane Harvey struck Houston right around the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a part of my own history. 9/11 came and went and I heard the children around me speak little of it and understand it even less. It is a sad story from their history books and a very real part of my personal history. There is, of course, some sadness when I look back on those memories, but more than that there is an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and even some happy memories.

I lived to tell my story.

My father had worked in the World Trade Center for years, and we left New York a short time before that tragedy occurred. Though our hearts broke as we watched those familiar buildings crumble, we recognized that we were still standing and that providence had spared us. Likewise, just hours before the worst of the storm hit New Orleans, we made it out. The sudden uncertainty was scary and uncomfortable, but the days that followed held some of my fondest memories. When the sudden reality of such uncertain and trying times becomes a common denominator for strangers, they may find a bond and a spirit of community unlike any other. I will never forget the days and nights that I spent in fellowship and worship and prayer with those families I stayed with during that time. In the time that followed after we left our safe haven from the storm, we were incredibly blessed by complete strangers who were willing to serve and give in our time of need. Imagine how such encounters might strengthen one's faith. My faith remains in God and not in humanity, but I marvel at the way that God uses people, regardless of their own faith or belief. Ultimately the hardest times are a reminder of God's sovereignty and of His goodness. Neither of those things is always going to look the way that we want it to. Still, if we look at our trials the right way we will remember all that He has done for us.

Just as every good and perfect thing comes from above, every trying time is a memorial. The Bible speaks of memorials on more than one occasion. I am not much of a theologian, so I sought out an explanation that might surpass what I could supply, and I found this:

God directs us to build memorials, or “to remember” for several reasons:

1. To serve as a reminder of our personal experience

2. To serve as a basis of sharing our faith with our children

3. To serve as a signpost to a lost world

4. To serve as a time for renewing our personal commitment

5. To serve as a time for rolling away old defeats

There is so much to be accomplished by the memorials in our lives. Every memorial will stand like a beacon in the night, shining a light out over the dark world we live in. I believe that another purpose for these memorials in our lives is to remind us that this world is not our home. I want so much to live out the future that I have imagined for myself, with a loving husband and a big beautiful family of our own. I imagine my children’s children and the even kind of grandmother I may be. In all honesty, it sometimes weighs heavily on my mind that I may not live to see that future. What if Jesus returns before then? In the ugliest days we are living on earth here and now, I imagine that God is reassuring me that His plan and His place for me are better. Better than hurricanes and senseless acts of violence, and better than every good thing that I could wish for here on earth.

My grandmother passed away last week. Next week we will lay her body to rest beside my grandfather in a cold New Jersey mausoleum, but it will be just that - her body. I imagine that death (in God’s time) is like a final memorial, reminding us of how God brings His children through the trial that is life on earth and into His glory. Until that time comes for me, I will need grace to remember to watch for every memorial - past, present, and future with intent, and to remember that regardless of what happens, God is soverign and He is good.

"You are good, good, Oh!"                                                                                                     Sarah McMillan - King Of My Heart (Live)

“Ar scath a cheile a mhaireas na daoine.”

You probably looked at the title of this post and wondered for a moment whether I was half asleep when I wrote it. I wasn’t. “Ar scath a cheile a mhaireas na daoine” translated says “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” It is an old Irish proverb that I learned from a very wise group of musicians (read: Jars of Clay. *Be sure to check out their song above*).

Two events, one very small and the other rather large, caused this thought to cross my mind today. Strolling around campus with the intention of taking a few pictures (read: attempting photography and modeling), my friend Priska and I came across a girl carrying the smallest little puppy I’ve ever seen.

Note: *I am not really a dog person, much less a canine connoisseur, so this puppy may have been average in size, but seemed very small to me*.

In any case we stopped to check it out, taking turns holding little Beau and taking pictures. Thinking over the experience, as I looked at the pictures later on, I realized how frail the little guy was and how much he needs someone to look after him. Lucky for Beau, being a puppy in addition to being that size draws in a number of contenders for the position not just of provider, but of friend. I thought to myself if a little animal without a soul needs us, than how much more we need one another. How is it that dogs got to be man’s best friend? Could we not count on one another?

Now I have nothing against dogs or dog lovers, and some people might feel that I’m taking the expression out of context, since “man” in the context of “man’s best friend”, most likely refers to mankind. I won’t argue against that. However I will ask that you consider this: Why do people (particularly in our nation) feel more compelled to find food and shelter for animals in need, than for people in need?

I don’t have any hard facts or statistics to support that claim, but honestly I don’t need any. Ask yourself if you were to spot a homeless man on the street and a homeless dog, which of the two would you be more likely to attempt to help?

I’ll come now to the second event that got me thinking about all this today: the disaster in Japan. The death toll is currently 236 and rising, expected to exceed 1000.

Between the death and destruction, people there are in desperate need of shelter in every sense of the word. Will we leave them abandoned in their immediate time of need? Of course not. Nothing opens our hearts and our wallets simultaneously like natural disaster. Sadly it seems that our eyes remain unopened. My concern is that we leave them abandoned when the immediacy dissipates and the news of Japan’s devastation is no longer newsworthy. Of course there is also the role of politics that is extended with America’s “helping hand”. But I won’t go into that.

I lived in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina and saw firsthand how that went. Only a year ago, Haiti faced circumstances similar to those in Japan right now and saw how swiftly and how completely sympathy faded, once the story was no longer making headlines. That is not to say that there are no individuals or organizations striving to make a difference there every day or even just today. However, between the time of the earthquake in Haiti and the Tsunami in Japan, the list of countries that have been affected by natural disasters has grown rapidly. Each new country affected becomes news and leaves the others as “old news”. In journalism we refer to news like natural disasters as “hard news”, which is heavily driven by time and immediacy. Puppies fall under the umbrella of “soft news” and stories about them are “human interest” stories, meaning that stories about puppies never get old.

 As you consider all of this, think of how you would feel, if you were in a place of need and found that people were more willing to help a cute little puppy than a starving man. The shelter we were meant to provide for one another is literal and figurative. As you leave your computer ask yourself who has found refuge in the shelter of your arms so far? Who else can look to you for shelter? And who can you depend on for shelter? If you find the list to be any less than the whole world, work on making it grow to that point.

P.S. If you liked this song, check out this artist:

Jars of Clay ßI love this band!

Also, be sure to check out the shelter resources for lyrics on the shelter album, essays inspired by the project and the songs, and help playing a few of the songs on the guitar.