I am so thankful that we have a godly president who has declared tomorrow a day of prayer and remembrance. It will take some time for the true extent of this tragedy to sink in. It just grows worse and worse as we hear the stories of the lives and families that have been destroyed.

Our Lord says that "men ought to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1)." Prayer allows us to take our focus off of the pain and the hurt and place it upon our God. "Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful man so that you do not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:3)." Let us consider Him, our Lord Jesus. As we do so we will find that our burden of pain and heartache from this tragedy is made lighter. Let us cry out to our Lord all that is on our hearts, all that we are anxious about, and worried about, and concerned about. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7)."

It is frustrating to see the slow progress in clearing away the rubble and reaching those trapped. It reminds me of the Murrah Building. The WTC is many times over a larger problem with more debris. But I can't help but wonder if we would do better to emulate the example of some other countries and put two or three thousand of our troops in there to dig with their hands and to pass the buckets as we see so many of the rescue workers doing. I know it would be risky with other buildings weakened which may fall. But is this not war? Is this not life and death to try to rescue those who are perishing? Let us continue to pray.

Good can come from this tragedy (Romans 8:28) if we will as a nation return to God. If we as a nation would be revived there would be nothing that would stand against this country. Tonight when we went to church it had been reported that one of the buildings close to the WTC was leaning and close to falling and hampering rescue efforts. When we came home we were told that it had been a mistake and that the building was not leaning and rescue efforts were proceeding. I believe it helped that in churches all across this country there were prayer meetings tonight and the result of the prayers was to help the rescue efforts to proceed. Everything in this country needs to be bathed in prayer at this very dangerous time. Let us pray!!!!

Some people were rescued from the rubble of the World Trade Center this morning. I heard that officials had received cell phone calls from those who were trapped. Hopefully and prayerfully there will be many more rescued. Let us pray!

I started watching the news this morning just in time to be shocked to see the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. That was just the first of many shocks this day has held so far as I watched with horror the events that have unfolded. Once again we have been forced to take our minds off of our little petty problems and think of the agony of life and death. We pray for those who are still alive but trapped. We pray for those who have been injured but struggling to survive. We pray for those whose loved ones have been killed or injured. Let us look to our Lord during this time. Isaiah 26:3 comes to mind. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee."

My son Nick (He is 23 years old) appears to be having some emotional problems. Not sure of the source although his grandmother being ill and his great uncle dying has likely contributed to it. He has been attending a sheltered workshop three days a week but for the last two weeks has not wanted to go. We have not been able to identify anything occurring at the workshop as being a problem but it is difficult to communicate with him.

We plan to give him more attention over the next few weeks and shelter him from whatever is going on with his grandparents. Hopefully he will be able to avoid taking anti-depressants again.

My computer may have a macro word virus. I ran a scan with my Norton Anti Virus after windows had a "fatal exception". It said it found the virus in msoobe.exe which is a windows program but when it tried to repair it everything froze up and I had to turn off and restart the computer. I have been very careful since having a virus a couple of years ago not to open any attachments unless I know for certain that they are safe. Unless I have further problems I don't think I will worry about it.

Must go and visit my mother today. My sister has decided to stay for another week which is helpful. My son Nick (who is mentally handicapped with Downs Syndrome) has not been feeling well from an ear infection but is almost well. However, he has decided he doesn't want to go back to the sheltered workshop for some reason which is a problem. It may be that when he was last there he didn't feel very well because of the ear infection and is thinking that will be how he feels when he goes back. Or, it may be that after hearing of my Uncle's death and us talk about my mother that this has affected him more than we may have thought. We will give it a little time and see if he will decide to go back to the workshop on his own.

Numbers in Sunday School were unusually low for this time of year today. At least three families were not in attendance. But we had a good spirit in both of the worship services and God has continued to bless us. Not sure what to do about the low attendance at this point. We have tried a number of things but there is only a limited number of people in a sparsely populated rural area to reach. It is also frustrating not to see people walking down the aisles to make decisions during the invitation. But when you are preaching to long time church members it may be that there are no decisions to be made.

Good news about our building plans in that the builder is planning to begin work the last part of the month. This next week water and gas lines are being rerouted and some of the materials have already been ordered by the lumber company. It may be that the building will generate some enthusiasm and even positively affect attendance. I talked to the deacons about possibly making a commitment to spend one day a week fasting for revival/spiritual awakening. Our level of prayer must increase before we will see a breakthrough spiritually.

Jeanie brought work home and is still working. Not sure how long she can continue to work as hard as she does. It is a continual pressure upon us but the Lord continues to sustain. Only through His power!