Haunting Images

There are a few images I have seen in my lifetime that have left a lasting impression on my heart and in my mind. This is one of them. The photo was taken at the exact moment President Bush was informed of the 9/11 attacks. The words spoken to the president were, "America is under attack."

Think about those words for a moment, then pick up a newspaper or turn on the evening news. Is it any different today than 17 years ago when those planes crashed into the World Trade Center? Not really.

Lee Harvey Oswald killed by Jack Ruby on live TV

Each of us has a moment we can picture that has changed our lives. We can remember where we were at the time and what we were doing. President Bush was sitting in an elementary classroom, probably for a No Child Left Behind initiative photo op. Suddenly it was the farthest thing from his mind.

There is another picture that has burned a place into my heart. It's not really an actual picture I guess. It's more of an image I have formed through reading accounts of it in the Bible. The image of Jesus hanging on the cross.

Bobby Kennedy slain

Why do these images we have in our minds bind themselves to our hearts so strongly? It's because they change us in some way. They have an effect on us. The picture of Bush above depicted the moment we all changed. Lee Harvey Oswald who assassinated John F. Kennedy, set of a string of assassinations with Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

These images in our minds, are they there for a reason? They remind us of things we should not allow to happen again. Or they remind us of wonderful events we never want to forget. They can also remind us of sacrifices made in order to bring peace and love to a world that desperately needs it.

What haunting images are in YOUR head. Why are they so precious and what are you going to do as a result of them? Without each of us emerging with a sense of purpose from these haunting images they are simply pictures and we are simply animals living out our lives.

We must use these images we have in our minds to make ourselves better. Better people, better citizens, better Christians.

The writing of the song at the end of this story used the text from Ecclesiastes to remind us that we all experience life-changing events in our lives. Why did he entitle the song Turn! Turn! Turn! The world keeps turning despite what happens? Turn from our sins and embrace Christ? You tell me.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds