I Will Be With You Always

"An officer and a gentleman" is a high military compliment. Outranking that in my opinion are the words "Officer and a Christian".

The Pentagon has its fair share of those. They comprise the Officer's Christian Fellowship. Major General Van Antwerp is their president. A little publicized aspect of 9/11 is that the fellowship lost nearly all its staff in the Pentagon attack.

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Birdwell was Antwerp's executive officer when he was almost burned to death on that fateful morning. He was exiting a bathroom when the hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building.

His older brother Wade described how Brian crawled through the burning building until rescuers carried him out to an adjoining street. Terrible burns were inflicted in the initial fireball but the impact flung Lt. Col. Bird under a roof sprinkler.

Brian testifies that this spared his life.

Months of hospital treatment followed. Did any of this suffering dent his faith in God? Consider this: Brian requested permission to leave the hospital to attend Thanksgiving Day services at his church in Springfield, Virginia.

He is only in his early 40s. His body will always carry the scars but nothing has changed his ardent relationship with God. Our Heavenly Father has accompanied Brian through every moment of this terrible ordeal.

An incident happened in those early days in hospital that has now passed into the legends of the George W. Bush era. The President and his wife were visiting the injured soldiers on Friday September 14. Mrs. Bush entered Col. Birdÿs room, hugged his wife and told Brian "there's someone here to see you". The president approached Brian,inquired as to his progress and spoke of his admiration.

President Bush then saluted Brian. That is never done except for the winner of a Congressional Medal of Honor. It was a moment of profound emotion.

Yet there's more. The junior salutes the senior and must hold the salute until acknowledged. Very slowly, taking almost 20 seconds the bandaged hands struggled to salute. When he could not quite reach his forehead, he tried to bend his body toward his hand. The president respectfully held his salute as his eyes filled with tears.

He left the room after giving Brian's wife Mel a huge hug.

Reader you have been permitted entry into a very private moment. I have described it to allow you a glimpse of what kind of people were touched by 9/11.

Perhaps in a far less newsgathering way your life has come under attack.

There were areas that you thought of as a stronghold that fell victim as easily as the Pentagon. Your memory might include mundane moments that suddenly erupted in a
firestorm of attack. The car wreck that changed everything. The doctor's phone call. The Kid who left home without so much as a farewell note. The pink slip.

Each of us can have our flimsy defenses overturned in a moment. You are not immune.

I don't have a message about a God who keeps you from attacks. My word is about a God,who in His Son has experienced every kind of suffering and Who promises to walk through it with you. The flames might burn your body or your bank account but He promises they cannot touch the real you.

You are utterly safe in His care if you hand your life over to Him.

Let Lt. Col. Birdwell's faith encourage your own. A life committed to Christ is constantly affirmed by God's promises. Pray this simple prayer right now:

Dear God, I acknowledge that I need you. Only You give meaning to life both in prosperity and in adversity. Please forgive my rebellious ways and send your Spirit into my heart. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ your Son and my Savior. Amen.

Find a Bible and read the very last verse of Matthew's gospel. If you meant that prayer the verse will come true for you. You never have to face life alone again.

Car Names

"Equinox!" asked my friend in Africa, "does this car only run twice
a year?" If fuel prices keep rising some S.U.V.s might be reduced to
that. His question made me wonder about the other names I glimpse trailing behind our cars.

Imprezza, Sentra, Jetta and Tribeca - interesting handles, but what do they mean? Even those names that do have substance, sometimes have nothing to do with cars: Sonata, Legacy, Cobolt or Fusion.

I'd like to eavesdrop at the boardrooms where the manufacturers
decide on these monikers. Perhaps I'd understand why the designation fits the car. This week I came upon the meaning in the name of a car from my youth: the Ford Fairlane.

I noticed my first Fairlane in 1968. It was a coupe with a long, flat & sloping rear window and a rear blindspot in which you could hide an 18 wheeler. This year the Ford Fairlane returned as a concept car. Don't think "retro." The name is the only thing that's the same. This bulky vehicle even has a refrigerator built into the rear door.

Fairlane: the name that has been associated with Ford for longer
than the history of the company. It goes back further than the time that the Ford family has been in America.

Come away with me across the sea to the harbor town of Cork in Ireland.

Let's roll back the dates on your calendar to the 19th century. An artificial famine caused by greed in London was funneling desperate families off their land and onto America-bound ships.

John & Tomisina heeded the invitation of relatives who were
pioneering farms in Michigan. Abandoning a tiny farm cottage they walked, with their seven children, 30 miles to Cork. Wolftone Street climbs up from the docks into the hills. Tomisina's parents lived there.

Sixteen immigrants crowded the tiny dwelling on their last night in Ireland. The Smiths would never see their daughter again. She took ill at sea and passed away. Heartbroken, John joined his brothers on the farm at Dearborn, MI.

John's son, William didn't initially take to farming. He became a
railroad worker, but came back home to marry Mary, a farmer's adopted daughter. In 1863 their first child, Henry Ford, was born. He didn't like farming either! Instead he produced a "quadricycle" 33 years later in a tiny workshop behind his home on 58 Bagley Avenue.

Ford, any-color-as-long-as-its-black, automobiles rolled from
Henry's assembly line. Money came his way. In 1912 Henry took a
pilgrimage to his roots in Cork. It included a visit to Wolftone Street.

Back then it was known by its previous name: Fair Lane.

From that small home he purchased a hearthstone. He had it mounted in the wall of his new mansion on the banks of the Rouge River. Henry called the residence "Fairlane." He established a housing estate for his factory workforce. He called it Fairlane. OK Henry, we get it! The name was very close to your heart.

Ford Company understood that too. 8 years after Henry's death they produced the first Ford Fairlane.

Names of faraway places still touch our lives. If anyone doubts
that early Americans were Bible readers they have only to ask to origins of the name of some of our 1st towns. Bible names have meaning.

The House of Bread we call Bethlehem. Society or Friendship came down to us as Hebron. Set apart became Nazareth. Philadelphia comes from Love of a Brother.

There are two Bible names you seldom see Ichabod "Where has the
Glory gone?" and Eben-ezer "The Stone of Help"

They relate to very different times in the history of Israel. Eben-ezer is from the early days when the founders of the nation recognized how much God had helped them. They raised a monument of gratitude. Ichabod however comes from a golden temple that had become hollow with "lip service" to God. It was in the declining years.

How is your relationship with your Creator: daily heart-felt praise for His goodness or the occasional thanksgiving when you suppose it's His due?