Journey Magazine

Journey

Magazine Fall 2011

10 year Remembrance Service Mount Si High School 9/11/11 10:00 am

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I stared at the screen, thinking it was some sort of plug for a movie. It took a few minutes for me to realize the place I called home, was under attack. ∼ Elizabeth

Remembering Immediate reaction: shock,

Quotes from Snoqualmie

immediate awareness that this is big and life as we know it is changing. ∼ Gayle

The first plane had hit the tower and we talked about praying for all those involved. ∼ Lorrie

...every class was watching the news and not school. ∼ Jamie

I too became filled with emotion. Fear, wonder, and sense to be with family. ∼ Jessi

It had moved me to stand up for my country and help in any way I could. I joined the U.S. Air Force. ∼ Elizabeth No one would answer my questions, "What does this all mean? What is going to happen now?" ∼ Jessi I spent most of the day watching TV and wondering why anyone would do this and praying for the

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victims. ∼ Susan

NEVER FORGET 10 Year Community Mount Si Sunday 9/11

September 11th

War was always a far away place and now it was happening to us here in our home! ∼ Teri

I was stunned and filled with grief for

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the staggering loss of so many. ∼ Sally

I felt like the invisible protection of mainland USA was gone forever and I wondered how God was going to use this for His glory, because at that moment all I felt was fear. ∼ Janelle

I soon realized my birthdays were never going to be the same. ∼ Heidi My first thought was what kind of world my kids were going to grow up in. ∼ Marty

I remember feeling really sad that all those people were going to die. ∼ Dannika

...Hope Remembrance Service High School 10:00am

I heard it right as it was happening, the first plane the news people were thinking it might have been a smaller plane, and then right before my eyes I saw the 2nd one go into the other tower. Pure evil exists. ∼ Kimberly

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Tired of living a “formula faith” that leaves you empty, frustrated, & discouraged?

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By Stephen Matlock On a perfectly ordinary day ten Septembers ago a pillar of fire and smoke split the sky. Some used technology for a last word with loved ones, others offered prayers for help and safety. And some realized what they had left when they rushed off to work without that last word, bypassing that man on the street corner with a hand-lettered sign, hurrying to get to the elevator and blocking that woman with the fussy baby, complaining to no one in particular how annoying people can be when there are tasks to be done and places to go...

For what they had left was the connection with the people around them.

What they realized was that there are no plans that stay behind as memories. What they finally knew is that what stays behind are the words and actions we shared with the people around us.

Sacred Space helps us journey deeper than bullet-point Christianity…

Sacred Space teaches us how to unmask the shallowness and emptiness of cultural spirituality…

Sacred Space shows us how to live connected to God, moment by moment, in the midst of a frantic, noisy world…

From WinePressPublishing sacredspacethebook.wordpress.com

Available Online & In Bookstores Late September 2011

No one plans for life to be cut so No one plans for short so soon and with no warning. We think that we are life to be cut so busy now but someday – soon – short so soon and we will sit down and write that letter or send that e-mail to with no warning. someone we’ve been putting off.

We will make that phone call.

We will make plans for lunch – and keep them – with a friend. We will say “I’m sorry, please forgive me” to someone who doesn’t deserve it. And we will pay attention – really, we mean it! – to the people around us.

The community around us was affected by the events of 9/11. There are obvious changes: missing lives, missing buildings, missing hopes and comfort. Our history is split into the day before and the day after.

And then there are the hidden changes. In some cases, I think the changes were for the worse. Some reacted to those events ten years ago by drawing in, hiding from strangers, fearing the unknown. They lived through terrible times and good times, but reacted to that September day by fearing the

stranger and rejecting the alien. They made it clear – quite clear – that they do not want just anyone to be around. They shut their doors and barred their window.

They love, they say – but there are limits to love. And they have set their faces as stone against the stranger.

But I think most of the changes have been for the better. I do not think we need tragedy to be better; however, in the light of the events and their aftermath we have taken stock of ourselves to ask “What is it about life that is precious?

What is it we want to keep? What is it we can do to the people around us, right now, to show that we love and care?”

We have taken stock of ourselves to ask “What is it about life that is precious?

We were tempted to react with fear and destruction. But we have also reacted with hope and love. We have started to think about the people around us, right here. We have begun to perform acts of mercy and love because we know how quickly life can be taken from us. We have begun to include the stranger and alien. We have begun to share and to dream.

There are multiple opportunities to participate in our communities: food banks and clothing banks, drives for back-to-school items, gifts to strangers in foreign lands and right here in our own county. It is the mark of redemption, I think, that we respond to loss and to hurt by working even more intently to build a stronger and more connected community.

We can draw back and let events split us as they almost did 10 years ago. Or we can act in ways that bring us together, because we see the value in staying together and loving one another.

The Art of Giving and Accepting Help is Beauty in Action!