Welcome to the Bible Study of the Month, which is designed to help grieving parents, relatives, and friends work through the grieving process, and find the answers they are looking for during this difficult time. 

This Month's Topic:  What do we do now?

It has been nearly one month since the World Trade Center/Pentagon tragedy.  We have learned how to go back to work, to fly in a plane, to eat at a restaurant.  We also hug our children a little tighter and a little longer, and kiss our spouses one more time before they go off to work.  We never forget to say "I love you."  We try to go on with life as normal, but normal doesn't work anymore.  There is still a heaviness in our steps, a tear shed here and there for lives lost, and innocence lost.  Nothing seems safe anymore--nothing but Jesus.  God said that he would protect those who called on His name.  This doesn't mean that we won't experience pain and suffering, but it does mean that we have a hope in something bigger than the things of this world, safer than the latest security measures our government is taking, bigger than any group of terrorists, and more just than any justice this world has to offer.  God doesn't want us to go on like things are normal.  A terrible thing has happened, perpetrated not by those who love God, but by those who are under the control of Satan.  God is calling all of us to not only spend more time with our families, which we instinctively feel compelled to do, but to spend more time with Him.  God loves each and every one of us, and He wants us to get to know Him better.  He wants us to spend time in His presence.  As you go about your day, remember this.  God is calling out to all of us.  He wants us to know Him for who he really is.  Make time for God in your day.  Take the time to pray, to read the Word, to just sit and think upon the things of God--His beauty and His majesty, His power and His love.  Whenever you feel overwhelmed by the darkness of the world, by the tragic events that are ongoing, remember that God is so much more than this.  He is the God of Revelation 4, the God who sits upon the throne, who is just and holy and awesome, and He loves you and wants you to know Him.

Revelation 4:2-11  

^{At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."}

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