Terrorist bombs, people dying, and uncertainty; events of the day bring one right to the heart of what is important. I found myself unable to deal with anything other than the safety of Whitney and Carli. I continued to go through the motions but my heart was with them. Unwittingly I had sent them into a city filled with death, destruction, and uncertainty. The news filled the empty rooms while hard facts hid in the corners. Everything stood still. Mobile phone networks, overwhelmed by the volume of calls and the appropriate priority given the emergency services, did not provide their normal assurances. All this emotion and I wasn’t at risk, struggling to hold onto life, or facing the horror of explosions in the deep city tubes.
Life is incredibly fragile. The events on an otherwise uneventful London workday shook and disrupted even the most complacent. Everywhere you looked you could see and feel the overwhelming thirst to be reassured that those one held close to their hearts were safe. London’s best human spirits emerged to reach out and help those less fortunate. Shops handed out free dinks and food to those who were hurt. Water ferries sprang into action to help commuters get safely home. Everywhere you turned people were reaching out to help, refusing to be paid for their gifts of compassion.
This is the essence of what it means to be a human being. Living, caring, and dispensing compassion. No judgments rendered. No bias and bigotry in sight. No concerns about what would happen tomorrow. Everything is seen, understood, and acted on in the present. The grace of the moment is stunningly beautiful, especially when seen on the backdrop of pain and death.
Jesus wanted to give others what he had received. “Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am, so they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, having loved me long before there ever was a world.” (John 17.24)
Yesterday was an extraordinary outpouring of the same Spirit; may today continue the moment.
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