Strange how things work out. Things that happen today sometimes seemingly have no real significance or purpose until sometimes much later..in the case of this poem, years later ...an event occurs that suddenly places them both in proper perspective. Yesterday's "question mark" becomes Today's answer.

I wrote this lttle poem back in 1965 and long ago forgot what triggered it's birth. Today I look back over the years and have seen Him time after time reveal His purpose in the events of life. One unforgettable such time was the attack on the Twin Towers in NYC on Sept. 11, 2001. Suddenly, in the midst of the ensuing confusion and fear and uncertainty, the little poem from yesterday became very relevant and comforting. Nothing takes our God by surprise. He is still in control. He was where He needed to be on that fateful day. He is always where He needs to be .

In solemn and somber remembrance America has just observed the first anniversary of that infamous day . As we watched again the vivid television coverage of that horror, our emotions were ripped and torn-- laid raw afresh. We felt all the mixed emotions again...Grief over all the lives that were lost, empathy and sympathy for their loved ones in their anguish, great honor, gratitude and respect for all who knowingly made the supreme sacrifice in order to save others. We felt anger..anger that the event happened, anger at the perpetrators of such evil, anger that Satan had such control of human minds that mankind could inflict such terrible things upon mankind. But through and over it all is the profound sense and knowledge that those who know Jesus as personal Savior and Lord belong to our Heavenly Father and that He holds us in His mighty hands. Nothing can separate us from His eternal love. He has granted to His children, even in the midst of turmoil, fear and destrucion, the gift of His Presence and Peace. Just hours after the attack, I wrote these words:

Promise

Out of the rubble, a flower grows,
Bravely flaunting a blossom fair.
Over the ashes, a robin sings,
A clear sweet song floating on the air.

After the deluge of rain that fell
A shimmering rainbow arcs on high.
Above the twisted carnage below
An eagle soars into the sky.

The Morning Star greets waking Morn,
Ending the grim and endless night,
And caught on the rim of a fragmented dream
A dewdrop sparkles in Dawn's first light.

rrm/9/11/01

As our shocked, unbelieving eyes stared at the scenes before us, every fiber of human emotion sobs, "Finish", or some similar word of finality.

But Praise His Name, those who place their trust in the Eternal One know that only God can write "Finish," and we believe He will bring forth victories yet un-imagined and His Glory and Power will be manifested in as yet unrevealed manner. Now our eyes see only death, pain and destrucion but Tomorrow WILL come. And God holds all the Tomorrows of all the future in His hands.To those who love Him, He has promised to bring forth good out of what seems totally bad.As we surender ourselves into His keeping we will "stand still and see the Glory of the Lord." We need not fear the future for He is already there. He is from everlasting to everlasting, unchanging and unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and forever. And He loves us.

Romans 8:28

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