Jamesestes

Beneath The Surface

On the surface it was a regular day at work.
But there was so much bubbling beneath
the surface—2 years since the towers fell and there's a huge
lingering sadness, pain and anger.
I felt a sense angst and sadness within me that wanted to scream
out, but I had a quietness instead—unknowing how to
even attempt to express feelings confused inside.
A slow boil wants to come to the top.

200 children read the names of their loved ones
yesterday at Ground Zero.
Families stolen away, they will never again get to say or hear
“I love you”
Pieces of their lives disintegrated,
like the ash and dust of the buildings.
The dust is still settling,
still blowing through our hearts

Words can’t even come close to capturing
the wellspring of emotion—the wounds deep in a nations’
subconscious, running deep like fault lines, splintering
through this great nation.
At any moment the tectonic plates of pain
could move causing quakes of emotion
to shake out of us,
rattling us to the core.

Why do things like this happen?
“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.”
His henchmen killed over 3000 on September 11, 2001.
But he did not swallow our collective soul,
the heart of this great people.
Bodies are gone,
but we are still standing.

We’re a people originally founded on the Rock of God.
The foundation of this nation is secure.
When the earth rumbles and shakes again—
as it surely will—
we will stand.

1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
September 12, 2003