Ministry Fair and Remembering 9/11

After a hectic week, Saturday was fairly restful and relaxing. I did a couple of loads of laundry but other than that, no work!

After dinner on Saturday, Andy and I both went over to church to set up tables and get the lobby ready for the Ministry Fair that was scheduled for Sunday morning. We (meaning Andy and Mark) put up the tables, then I put the tablecloths on. Andy helped me pin the banners onto the tables.It was a busy, exciting place on Sunday morning.
After church on Sunday, Andy and I went over to Laurel Acres Park where a 9/11 Memorial Service was scheduled. Several weeks ago, the township had called the church to ask one of our pastors to be involved in giving the invocation at the ceremony. So at staff meeting that week the pastors talked about it and decided Andy should be the one to do it. Since we were on vacation and absent from that meeting, we couldn't voice any objection! Actually, out of all the pastors, it made the most sense for Andy to be the one to do the honor. The other pastors had responsibilities that made it harder for them to get away from church.

The ceremony was at 1:00 pm. Andy and I were encouraged by the testimonies and stories of those who participated. There were the usual stories of the selfless heroics of the response teams, but almost all of them talked about how God ministered to them in that situation. They talked about their own growth and faith and hope. It was very heartening. We really don't live that far from New York, so our township was one of the first to respond in sending teams to New York. And we were given a big piece of steel from the World Trade Center as a memento. You can see it at the bottom of these two pictures.
The Mount Laurel mayor and Andy praying.The end of the ceremony: bagpipes playing Amazing Grace.
Psalm 42:3-5
My tears have been my food day and night,
while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
These things I remember as I pour out my soul;
how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Where is God when tragedy strikes? He is there: in outer space, in the deepest pit, giving comfort, glimmers of hope and glimpses of Himself. There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.

It's a good thing to remember. Great is His faithfulness.