Landfill at Fresh Kills, Staten Island, NY, Photo by Chester Higgins for the EPA, Source National Archives and Records Administration (NAI 548348)
WARNING: Graphic Images
“For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord…” (Is. 51: 3).
Covering 2200 acres and taller than the Statue of Liberty, the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, NY can be seen from space.
At one time the primary waste disposal site for the City of New York, Fresh Kills was closed to dumping early in 2001, but reopened to process the 2 million tons of debris from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
Mass Destruction
“You could not comprehend the massive destruction [at Ground Zero]. Even though there was an enormous amount of toxic debris and smoke, your skin was on fire you couldn’t breathe your eyes were tearing, you just kept going on and on. You didn’t care – you just wanted to find somebody [1].”
– former EMS Paramedic, Freddie Noboa, now suffering from PTSD, asthma, and many other illnesses
Twisted girders, broken concrete, bricks, glass, shredded paper, and human remains were shipped by truck and barge to Fresh Kills.
A Miniature City
Work at Fresh Kills went on 24/7 consuming over 1.7 million man hours. A miniature city grew up to accommodate the NYC Police Department, FBI, 25 state and federal agencies, and 14 contractors sorting through the material.
Though recovery workers at Ground Zero toiled without respirators, those at Fresh Kills landfill were provided them, along with safety gear which included protective suits and gloves; goggles; hard hats; and steel-toe boots.
In view of the high stress environment, psychological counseling was, also, made available.
Like Being in Hell
“We found 150 full bodies and 20,000 body parts. It was like being in hell down there – arms, legs, people cut in half – a gruesome job. There were guys down there spitting up blood [1B].”
– former FDNY Deputy Chief, Jim Riches, who found his son’s body on “the pile” at Ground Zero in March 2002
Under strict security protocols, piece after piece of material was passed along assembly lines and closely examined. Thousands of fragmentary human remains were recovered from which 300 persons were identified. More than 1600 personal effects were retrieved.
Toxic Debris
The toxic debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers was found to contain more than 2500 contaminants. These included glass and other fibers, asbestos, lead, and mercury.
About 70% of first responders developed cancers and serious respiratory conditions. Along with EMS and firefighters, construction workers, health care professionals, clergy, and others continue to suffer from medical issues a decade later. Read more…
NYFD Deputy Chief Joseph Curry at Ground Zero Three Days After the Terrorist Attack, Photo by Navy Officer 1st Class Preston Keres, Source http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=1466
The events of 9/11 were seared into the national consciousness. Ordinary people impacted by extraordinary evil; senseless tragedy on a monumental scale.
Yet the days, weeks, and months which followed demonstrated that ordinary people are capable of extraordinary good. The darkness that seemed to reign for a moment could not overshadow the countless of acts of courage and compassion.
We will, each of us, experience evil in some form during our lives. Grief and loss need not be inflicted by terrorists to tear at our confidence, undermine our faith. Read more…
Sometimes we go through periods of drought in our lives. What we have loved seems dry and lifeless. We feel as if we have nothing more to give, and nothing to sustain us.
On occasion, we discard the familiar in the desperate hope that something new will fill the void within us. As if drinking sand could slake our thirst. More often than not, we stagger on, amazed that we can stand at all. We go through the motions, pay our bills, meet our commitments.
Then suddenly one day joy is restored to us. As simply as that, we can laugh again or appreciate the taste of a good hoagie.
God is with us through those arid times. We are never as alone as we may feel. His purpose may be beyond us, but He is not.
“ ‘I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert’ ” (Is. 43: 19).
Lord God, Most High, we praise Your name. You guide our footsteps, even when we know not. You guard and protect us, though we go astray.
Pour Your spirit out on us. Drench us.
Make a way where there was none. Lead us through the wilderness of this life to Living Water.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed
“Second Coming of Christ”, Russian icon (c. 1500) (PD-Art l Old-70)
Christians in this day and age have cause for grief as well as joy, for fear as well as celebration. This Bible Study examines Scripture in light of the tumultuous times in which we live.
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying [1]
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God’ ” (Isa. 40: 3).
Often, it feels as if we are the voice in the desert, the last remnant praising God. We long for Jesus’ return in a dry and weary land (Ps. 63: 1). When He comes again, the last shall be first, and the first last (Matt. 19: 30). The rough places will be made smooth, and His glory will shine for all to see (Isa. 40: 4-5).
No one but the Father knows the day or the hour, when that will be (Matt. 24: 36). Meanwhile, we cannot despair (2 Cor. 4: 8). We are to “defend the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy” (Ps. 8: 3) as long as God gives us strength.
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ ” (Matt. 3: 1-2).
John the Baptist was assigned the task of preparing the way for the Messiah. John was the final prophet to precede the Lord, baptizing Him in the Jordan. Not long afterwards, John was martyred for his adherence to the truth (Mark 6: 18-19, 27-28).
Jesus said of John the Baptist that from among those born of women there was none greater (Matt. 11: 11). The Lord added, however, that the least in the kingdom would be greater than John. Astonishingly, that was a reference to us. The Lord knew that faith would be a challenge in our day.
Some speculate that John the Baptist may be one of the two witnesses in Jerusalem at the end of days, and Elijah the other. Whatever their identity, we are told the two witnesses – like Elijah earlier (1 Kings 17: 1) – will be given power “to shut heaven so that no rain falls” (Rev. 11: 6).
Behold He comes riding on the clouds
“ ‘…[H]ereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven’ ” (Matt. 26: 64).
Jesus made this reply, when asked by the high priest whether or not He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. For these words He was condemned. Yet we will see them fulfilled when He returns in glory. Read more…
“We elected you as our representatives. Our taxes pay your salaries. That means—like postal employees—you work for us. Every last one of you: president on down.
You wanted these positions, thankless though they may be. You actually ran for them. Don’t complain if it is troublesome to do them right. Try working in a coal mine sometime, or standing in an unemployment line.
Somewhere along the way, you decided we could be lied to at will…Don’t imagine we’re not aware of your contempt. It’s just that we’ve had so few choices among you. Hope is engineered into our genes. Elections are far enough apart that a glimmer of it resurfaces and, a few of us at least, head to the polls again.
Try and imagine your jobs actually matter. In point of fact, they do. We don’t need your ‘spin doctors’ to tell us what to think. Just do your jobs, and we can manage all on our own to figure out if you’ve done them right.”
– Excerpt from An Evangelical on the Left, Partisan Politics
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Image of Roman Emperor Diocletian, Photo by Sailko (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported, GFDL 1.2 or later)
“So they brought Him [Jesus] a denarius. And He said to them, ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ And He said to them, ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ ” (Matt. 22: 19-21).
We grab breakfast at the kitchen table, and wrestle with bills there at the end of the month. Sunday mornings, we read the paper at the kitchen table, coffee mug nearby. We sit up late at the kitchen table, waiting for a spouse on the night shift to get home.
And we argue politics at the kitchen table.
The practical application of our beliefs, politics matter because they impact so many aspects of daily life, issues discussed at kitchen tables across the country.
Politics determine the conditions under which men and women live and work; the safety of foods, drugs, and cosmetics; the availability of education; the affordability of health care; the existence of a safety net, and a thousand other things. Read more…
Drought can last for months or years. It has led to mass migrations, and has contributed to the collapse of advanced societies like the Maya and Anasazi.
Deforestation, excess irrigation, over-farming, and soil erosion can all impair the capacity of land to capture and retain water. The effect is to decrease crop production, eventually resulting in famine. During the drought of the 1930s, the rich topsoil of the Great Plains dried out and blew away. Immense dust storms reached as far as the East Coast. Hundreds of thousands left their homes behind to try elsewhere.
These were the conditions Joseph foretold Pharaoh (Gen. 41: 29-30); the conditions under which Joseph’s brothers went down to Egypt to purchase grain (Gen. 42: 3), and the Israelites relocated to Egypt (Gen. 47: 11). Read more…
Ashalim Stream, Judean Desert, Israel, Photo by Yuvalr (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
This Bible Study will focus on Scriptural passages with bearing on the present day. Some are prophetic. Others are not, but speak to our circumstances, as if penned yesterday. All offer us assurance and encouragement, in God’s own words.
These are the days of Elijah [1]
“ ‘But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land…’ ” (Luke 4: 25).
Jesus, Himself, spoke of the “days of Elijah,” a time of drought lasting over three years with severe famine the result. We are not living in the days of the prophet, Elijah, literally speaking. For many, however, ours is a time of hardship and testing.
Christianity is often ridiculed, and persecution not far off.
Though there is widespread drought in our nation as of this writing, the drought for us is as much spiritual as physical. We are bombarded by information, while the concept of truth has been virtually lost. Though few realize it, we are famished for the Word of God.
Ultimately, Elijah brought rain and revival. Christians long for the quickening of the Holy Spirit, a downpour turning this beloved nation of ours once again toward God.
Declaring the word of the Lord
“…[T]he word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward’ ” (Gen. 15: 1).
The “word of the Lord” is a phrase used consistently throughout Scripture to designate communication from God. Patriarchs and prophets received their instruction in this way, then conveyed God’s message to His people.
As Christians in this modern day and age, we, too, have a responsibility to declare the word of the Lord, the Gospel message. This is the Great Commission (Mark 16: 15). Our audience is the world which is in desperate need of Salvation.
And these are the days of Your servant, Moses
“Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue’ ” (Ex. 4: 10).
Despite our inadequacies, we stand on the verge of great things. This is not greatness as the world esteems it. Rather, this is the greatness of the Lord. His power is beyond measure, His love beyond imagining. And we have the enormous privilege of being His servants, His adopted children, and making Him known to the world. Read more…
“But Jesus looked at them and said…‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’ ” (Matt. 19: 26).
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Christians live in a world of miracles. We fight for impossible causes, endure impossible trials, forgive impossible wrongs, knowing that all things are possible with God.
This is not wishful thinking, not a matter of crossing our fingers, and hoping for the best. It is the warp and woof of our lives, the very fabric of our existence.
We experience the same pain and grief, the same injustice, non-believers do, yet see God’s hand in the beauty all around us. How can this be anything but miraculous? It certainly does not originate with us. Read more…
The so-called Great Recession has left a great many people unable to afford legal representation, while generating increased bankruptcies, debt collection cases, and foreclosures.
The number of Americans with incomes at or below 125% of the federal poverty level is expected to climb to a high of 66 million in 2012.
A family of four earning that amount (the income limit required to qualify for legal aid) makes only about $28,800 a year.
Meanwhile, federal funding for Legal Services Corp. has been reduced by 17 percent to $348 million, as compared with $420 million in 2010. Legal Services Corp. — which funds 135 legal aid groups across the country, serving about 900,000 clients a year — will turn away approximately as many potential clients by reason of staffing shortages.
Large firms, which typically require pro bono work from their associates, have downsized reducing the hours available to impoverished clients.
The result of all this is a deluge of pro bono cases backing up court calendars. Laura Bellows, President of the American Bar Association, has said, “The need is extraordinary. You not only have the poverty level community, but also the middle class community.”
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
A Lawyer's Prayers 