23 Years and Counting

It’s been twenty-three years today, twenty-three years and counting

It’s so long ago, yet it’s not. It’s like yesterday, or like last week or like last fall.

But not twenty-three years ago today!

 But it’s really been twenty-three years, twenty-three years and counting

The pile, the horrible stench, the fear, the tears, the funerals, the bagpipes, the reading of the names

They are all etched in our minds like a bad stain, they can become faded with time but they will never be wiped away

But more importantly we still see the faces

The dad, the mom, the son or daughter the Firefighter, the Cop, the EMS worker

We still see them, we still weep for them, they are still precious to us.

Though it’s been twenty-three years, twenty-three years and counting.

Our nation lost some good people that day at the Pentagon and at Shanksville and at The Towers

2977 souls that day. More than 2977 souls since then to 911 related illnesses

Our City lost some good people that day as well.

Officemates who walked down the stairs of the North Tower together but didn’t quite make it out

Strangers who grabbed each others hands and jumped into eternity

Volunteers giving their all to save a few, some not saving themselves

We all lost some great people that day, some heroes

People who lived out the words of Jesus who said  “Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends”

Heroes who would rather lose their life than to let someone else, even a stranger, lose theirs or lose theirs alone

343 firefighters, 71 law enforcement officers, 8 EMS workers, so may more since

So many lost some very special people that day. We know them all by their names

They went by Daddy, Mommy, Grandpop, Grandma, Uncle, Auntie, Sis, Brother, Son, Daughter, Neighbor, Friend, New Yorker. They were all irreplaceable yet they are gone.

It still stings to think about them. It’s been twenty-three years, twenty-three years and counting.

And with the time the wounds heal but never completely. How can they?

The wounds runs too deep. It has left a near eternal scar on our hearts

23 years later an aging parent still says, “I lost my boy”

23 years later a group of retirees in Florida say it would be great if only Jack or Janet were here

23 years later a pregnant daughter says at her shower, “I wish my mom were here”

23 years later a Yankee fan on their couch says, “I miss my Pop Pop”

23 years later a bride on her big day wishes for the steady arms of her dad to walk her down that aisle

Yes, it is hard to believe it’s been twenty-three years, twenty-three years and counting

So today we gather. We look together for hope

The Good Book says there is a time for every purpose under heaven. There is a time to laugh and a time to cry and a time to mourn and a time to rejoice and a time to embrace…..so we do just that now.

It also says that “He makes everything beautiful in His time”. That is the day we look forward to. When God himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes and there will be no more crying or dying because the former things will have passed away. That is the day we are longing for when there will be a great reunion in the sky.

Until then we look back and remember, remember as we should…. twenty-three years twenty-three years and counting, until the day He makes us whole.

 

Blessings

Pastor Dave Watson

Labor Day traditionally is when political campaigns kick off. Now they seem to drag on and on and drag us down with them. Here is the Model Prayer, “The Lord’s Prayer” as it is called by some, “The Our Father” as it is called by others, applied to this election season.

The Lord’s Prayer for this Election Season

Our Father – Thank You that for all those who are the disciples of Jesus Christ, that we are told by Jesus Himself to call You Father. What a privilege. As our Father, we can call You Abba, which means Daddy. We can know that we are Your concern so we can cast all our concerns upon You. We can cast our burden on the LORD for He will sustain us. We know today that You are the Father of all the those who have called on Jesus Christ, Your Son to be their Savior and have committed to follow Him as their Lord. This is true whether they be Trump republicans, Harris democrats or Kennedy independents, MAGA, Progressive or Libertarian. Thank you that our relationship with You is more important than any party affiliation. Our identity is not about our color, our culture or our community but about our being Your children and the creed we profess as Your children.

Who is in Heaven – Your position is that of the King of Heaven, the Boss of the Universe. You are the Most High God, who raises up and brings down rulers as You see fit. Your perspective is that of heaven. You see all of earth’s timeline past, present and future in one glance. You are not like our earthly parents who were imperfect and who had limited perspectives. As our Heavenly Father You are perfect in all Your ways. We can trust that You are in complete control, now, always.. … and forever

Hallowed be your name – Holy, Holy, Holy, the angels continually proclaim. You are the three times Holy God. This reality never ceases to be true. You swear by Your holiness.  Holy is who You are. Holiness is what You expect. Both in Your people and in the nations.  Let us always remember that You are holy. May we remind those who run for office and those who serve in office that they must in the end give an account to a Holy God.

Thy Kingdom Come – It is not about one political party or another. It is about Your kingdom. Though we are residents of the United States of America we are first of all citizens of the Kingdom of God and of heaven. We live in a democracy where the people rule, but we serve a Theocracy, where our God alone rules. We have Your kingdom’s agenda. Our allegiance is to You above and beyond anything else. Our votes can’t be bought or sold. We are not a special interest group or a voting block who can be placated by empty promises or worthless appointments. We serve an Audience of One. One!! You, that’s it!

Thy will be done – Yes Lord. It is not about my will or our will but Your will. Lord, we are surrendering to You at this moment. Whatever You want. You know best. We will do what You ask. We will speak up for what You desire. We will not let the fear of man silence us or the praise of man motivate us. It is Your will we seek to do and Your will we want to see accomplished. We want to be instruments of Your will. We know it is Your will for Israel to ultimately have peace and we work and pray for that. We know that Your desire is that all men be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and we work and pray for that. We know that You desire the unborn and innocent to be protected and we work and pray for that. We understand that You demand righteousness in a nation for Your blessing to be given and we work and pray for that. We know that You don’t want the poor or needy to be forgotten and work and pray for that.  

On earth as it is in heaven – May we the earthly beings be as obedient to Your will as the heavenly being are. May we seek to carry out Your will like our citizenship is from heaven because it in fact is. Lord, we don’t always understand Your ways, but we know You make no mistakes.

Give us this day our daily bread – Please help us to remember who we look to for our sustenance. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. We are dependent on You. You give us the strength to work to make money to buy food to eat. You provide for us. It is You we thank for our provisions not politicians. It is You we are obligated to not government. It is to You we look to for help and for solutions. If our leaders are instruments used by You to meet a need we appreciate their efforts but it is You whom we praise and give the all glory.

And forgive us our trespasses – Father, in all that is going on we get angry.  We get short. We throw our remotes at our Smart TV’s. We write social media posts that don’t reflect our commitment to You. We are silent when we should speak up. We shout when we should be silent. In frustration, we repeat lies about candidates, we curse pundits, we condemn political parties. We bless You the only God of the universe but speak evil of men made after Your likeness. We separate from our brothers and sisters in Christ along political ideologies. Instead of praying fervently for one another  we argue vehemently with each other. We divide Your church, the body of Christ, for which Your Son died. Please forgive us.

As we forgive those who trespass against us – Lord, we are spoken evil of. We are hated by some for standing for Your truth. We are lied to and lied about. One or another candidate claims we are extremists. One or another candidate lies to us about their positions.  We are pressured and persecuted by Your enemies and by those we thought were our friends. We are used and abused. Father, please forgive them. Please help us to forgive them as we have been forgiven by You through Jesus Christ.

And lead us not into temptation – Please keep us in this election season from being tempted to make our government out to be our God, our politicians to be our hope, and elections the end all of everything. May we, in addition, not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Help us to be different, to be Christ-like. Furthermore, Father please keep us from the hour of tribulation still awaiting our world. In a moment, in a New York minute, we can be the target of our government or others for our beliefs that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, that marriage is between a man and a woman, that there are only two genders, that a fetus is a baby from conception, that the weak and poor should be defended, and that Israel should be protected.

But deliver us from evil or the evil one – Please Father rescue us as we live for You. Be our Strong Tower, Our Shield, Our Hiding place from the storms ahead regardless of who is elected. Please also protect us from the wiles of the devil, the Evil One. We are not ignorant of His devices which include division among Your people, discouragement for Your leaders and doctrinal errors in Your church. We are so vulnerable. We need Your help.

For thine is the Kingdom – You reign now and forever. It’s all about You

And the power – You are the One in perfect control.

And the glory – Your name will be magnified

Forever – Both now and through eternity, from this most difficult of elections until we are with You forever.

Amen. – May it be so.

In Jesus name we pray.

Pastor Dave Watson

Waiting for a “Nebuchadnezzar Moment”.

I’m waiting for a “Nebuchadnezzar moment”. Since the evening of July 13, 2024 at around 6:11pm I have been waiting for it. I haven’t seen it yet. Still waiting.

Obviously, I need to explain myself.

     Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon from 606 BC to 562 BC.  He was the one primarily responsible for the deportation to Babylon of the people of the Southern Kingdom of Israel known as Judah in 606, 596 and 586 B.C. He figures prominently in the book of Daniel. It is in Daniel where we find the “Nebuchadnezzar moment”.

     In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a giant image of a head of gold, a breastplate of silver, torso and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay.  Daniel alone is able to reveal and  interpret this dream to Nebuchadnezzar. When God shows Daniel what the dream and interpretation are Daniel blesses God and tells us that the Most High God selects and raise up leaders as He wills (Daniel 2:20-22).  The head of gold, Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, is the kings himself.  In the end Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed   “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery” ( Daniel 2:47). This a powerful proclamation by Nebuchadnezzar about God’s existence but it is not the “Nebuchadnezzar moment”  I am speaking of.

     Regretfully, the interpretation of the dream goes to Nebuchadnezzar ’s head. He creates a great image based on the dream and requires everyone to bow to it or be thrown into a fiery furnace. Shadrach,  Meschach and Abenego, three Jewish men and colleagues of Daniel, refuse and are thrown into the fiery furnace. God delivers them causing Nebuchadnezzar to say “Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way” (Daniel 3:29). Amazing words but not quite the “Nebuchadnezzar moment”  I’m thinking of.

     When we get to chapter four of Daniel we have some high hopes for Nebuchadnezzar. Regretfully he gives an account of yet another dream whose interpretation he appears to ignore. In interpreting the dream Daniel admonished him saying  “Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity” (Daniel 4:27).

Sadly, Nebuchadnezzar’s two encounters with the Most High God don’t seem to have impacted him much for he says just 12 months after the dream:

 “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” ( Daniel 4:30)

     Though he knows that the Most High God is indeed the Most High and there is no God like this God, he has not humbled himself before this God. Nebuchadnezzar is still full of himself. He is self-reliant. He is arrogant. But God is still working on him.

     Daniel 4 goes on to record God’s extraordinary humbling of Nebuchadnezzar in accordance with the dream he had.  The king loses his sanity, loses his dignity and loses his position as the king. This occurs overnight and lasts for seven years. The text reads:

“Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws” (Daniel 4:33).

     At the end of this incredible season and lesson in humility when Nebuchadnezzar came face to face with his mortality and God’s sovereignty, he expresses genuine, life changing humility. He gives testimony to this saying: “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored him that lives for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation” (Daniel 4:34).  He goes on to say, “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Daniel 4:37). 

     Wow. This is the “Nebuchadnezzar moment” I have been talking about. It is more than an affirmation of who God is. It is more than a recognition of what God can do. It is a personal public confession of what God is doing in the private life of one man, king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

     I don’t know Former President  Donald Trump, now presidential candidate Trump personally. I’ve never even met him casually. I don’t claim to know his heart. More than any other politician in my lifetime though, he reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar. He, like Nebuchadnezzar, created an empire which he boasts about. He, like Nebuchadnezzar, has held the highest office in the world. He like Nebuchadnezzar seems to be incredibly proud, self-sufficient, and arrogant. A victim in some ways of his own successes. He and Nebuchadnezzar have also both been formers.  Trump as president, Nebuchadnezzar, as king. And one more thing, they both have had an incredible moment of clarity regarding their own mortality and God’s sovereignty and mercy.  

     I have watched and listened closely over the last few weeks since July 13, 2024. In a field in Pennsylvania the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump should have had his brains blown out not just his ear grazed.  God spared him. Mr. Trump came face to face with his own mortality and God’s sovereignty and grace. I have watched and listened for humility, for a personal public confession of a private change, for a “Nebuchadnezzar moment”. I’m still watching, I’m still waiting.

        On March 30, 1980, a would-be assassin’s bullet just missed the heart of President Ronald Reagan. It broke a rib and caused massive bleeding. Thankfully Reagan survived but just barely. He had come face to face with his own mortality and God’s sovereignty and mercy. In one of his first speeches after the attempt Reagan spoke about this saying “I have decided that whatever time I may have left is left for Him.” Those close to Reagan say he was a different man after that faithful day. He didn’t take his life for granted or his life’s mission casually. He experienced a” Nebuchadnezzar moment”, and he was never the same.

     I pray daily for former President now candidate Trump. I pray for his safety and the safety of his family. I pray for his personal salvation. I pray for him to have a “Nebuchadnezzar moment”, a personal public confession of a private change. Please watch and pray with me. God is still working on him.

Blessings,

Pastor Dave Watson

Calvary Chapel

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