I AM GOD, he says to us ALL

It is remarkable to note, but today is the 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion. I was news editor of the Jackson Daily News on that terrible morning, and in the matter of about an hour and a half, we remade the entire A section of the newspaper.

I was not a Christian then. I didn't know my Lord, or at least I didn't walk in his righteousness then as I certainly try now.

But what I remember about that morning was how small I felt, how lacking I was. Not in the business, though that was true too, but in the aftermath of tragedy. I was unable to think of anything that anyone could do. The teacher was gone. It was heartbreaking.

In Isaiah, God makes his case that he is the only one that can help, help a nation, help a person. I believe that to be truth now.

He says, "the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, who breathes life into earth's people, makes them alive with his own life: I AM GOD."

In tragedy and out of tragedy, he is God. He was in that shuttle that blew up. He was in the stairwells of the twin towers, in the Oklahoma City Federal Building. He is in my home and yours. HE IS GOD.

He is with the atheists as they lay dying and with the Muslim as the moment to explode the bomb comes. He is with the Harri Krishna's (and whatever happened to them, by the way), and the Buddhists and all the Wiccans you can name as they approach death or try to figure out how to live.

This notion of brotherhood for those who believe in Christ is an interesting one. God sees nothing but people; he sees no color, no gender, no religion except that which worships him.

He tells Isaiah, "I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, to make a start at bringing people into the open, into light, opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prison. I AM GOD, that's my name."

That is what he has set us to do to, called us for, equipped us to be. Bind, provide, start, open, release, empty. HE IS GOD, and we are not. But he wants us to help.

Have any plans today?