Mercy at Ground Zero

On August 11th of 2003, the OBCC high school mission team to Philadelphia took a trip to the former site of the World Trade Center, Ground Zero in New York City. This was probably the most humbling experience of my life.

I was standing on a sidewalk that nearly 2 years prior, was covered with the remains of two of the tallest buildings in the world, the wreckage of two jet planes and countless deceased. It was as if time stopped for me when I stopped to think about how many people died in that exact spot. Of course capitalism had taken over the area by that time. Street vendors were selling every manor of chachki that related to the disaster. As a matter of fact I bought a laser etched acrylic block remembering the event.

All around the site there was still evidence of the devastation. The face of a near by building had been sheered off, there were cracks in the sidewalk and there were boarded windows and construction fences blocks away. But dead center in the middle of it all there seemed to be hope. There was construction happening in the "bathtub" foundation of the site, and at the south end of it all was an i-beam framing structure in the shape of a cross. As if God was in control. The fence in the picture was built all around the site. A sturdy, permanent fence around 12 feet high. Not really the kind of fence you can climb. There were signs every 20 feet or so that said "Do not write on fence." But no one obeyed, not even our team. We all had something to say. We felt that somehow we owed it to those who died to remember them somehow.

"Please Lord God, in your wrath, remember mercy. " Habakuk 3:2. Such a statement in such a place. This stood out to me more than any other bit of graffiti on the fence. There were thousands of names written, and much profanity to those who caused this. There were words of remembrance and consolation, but this was the only one I saw that spoke true Christianity. Jesus is all about love, forgiveness, and mercy, and as hard as it may be to share those feelings here, this is what it is like to truly be like Jesus. Please don't get me wrong, I want to see justice served to those responsible, but Jesus died for all.

A simple message scribbled on a fence said so much.

Kentucky Kitty 2010

When in Kentucky this past summer we helped a lady out by building a few handicapped ramps for her. She was to have surgery on her ankle and needed to keep all weight off of it for a few weeks and would end up using a wheel chair. She was very friendly and had a passion for stray animals. She had 2 ducks, a whole bunch of chickens (and a rooster) at least 2 dogs and who knows how many cats. In the week we worked there she actually took in another kitty. The cat here in the photo was only a few weeks old and wasn't afraid of anything. She (I'm assuming a she) would stand under the miter saw while we were cutting boards. Wasn't afraid to walk around us while hammers were swinging and 2 x 4's were flying all over the place. Any way she was only about 8 inches long and really a cute kitty. Nearly every one who worked on this project wanted to take her home. One of the young ladies decided to buy a bag of cat food and bring it out to the site. Unfortunately she placed the food right where we were to be working. You know how hard it is to dig a hole with a cat looking into it? The sad thing about the animals of this area is that they all end up with fleas and tics and other ailments almost at birth. You can see that she already has goobers coming out of her eye. This is the nice thing about a photograph of a cat. No mess to clean up, or food to buy, but with all the benefits of looking at a pretty kitty. This was shot with a Canon Powershot SD 1100 is at 1/320th of a second f/2.8