While maintaining healthy bodies requires physical workouts and nutritious food, maintaining healthy souls requires spiritual workouts and nutritious spiritual food. In both cases, we must pay a price to be healthy.
If we view life's challenges and hardships as spiritual workouts that can help us become stronger spiritually, they are not all bad. Al Masterson - the main character in A TIME TO... - discovers this on 9/11 and it changes his life for the better.
Maybe you have experienced this phenomenon yourself in connection with 9/11 or some other event and would like to comment here.
A spiritual adventure affirmed that love, faith, hope & charity survived 9/11
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*** LIBRARY of CONGRESS Honoree ***
*** LIBRARY of CONGRESS Honoree ***
*** AWARD of EXCELLENCE - Deep River Books ***
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The Story
When we have nothing left to lose, we can often see, hear and do things that were not possible before.
Al Masterson, a risk manager working in the World Trade Center, experienced this phenomenon on 9/11 with his imminent death. Tower One of the World Trade Center was collapsing on him when he was whisked away on an incredible journey.
It was a mysterious, guided tour of his life... an allegorical tale filled with memorable, colorful characters and events.
Upon completion of his soul-searching journey, he returned to Ground Zero where the people and events of his trip came alive for him in amazing ways.
As a result, he came to understand that love, faith, hope and charity all survived 9/11. The story will renew and refresh your spirit. If you liked "Footprints in the Sand," you will enjoy this story.
A Time To... is available as a paperback, an eBook and as an audiobook. Read or listen to a free excerpt below. The paperback can be purchased here on my Paperback Store page and on Amazon.
The eBook can be purchased in all eReader formats (Kindle, iPad, etc.) on Smashwords. The audiobook (MP3 format) is available as either an immediate download or as a mailed DVD. Purchase the version you prefer, by clicking on the appropriate button below.
Email me at ronpeterson@comcast.net with questions and comments and I will respond.
Al Masterson, a risk manager working in the World Trade Center, experienced this phenomenon on 9/11 with his imminent death. Tower One of the World Trade Center was collapsing on him when he was whisked away on an incredible journey.
It was a mysterious, guided tour of his life... an allegorical tale filled with memorable, colorful characters and events.
Upon completion of his soul-searching journey, he returned to Ground Zero where the people and events of his trip came alive for him in amazing ways.
As a result, he came to understand that love, faith, hope and charity all survived 9/11. The story will renew and refresh your spirit. If you liked "Footprints in the Sand," you will enjoy this story.
A Time To... is available as a paperback, an eBook and as an audiobook. Read or listen to a free excerpt below. The paperback can be purchased here on my Paperback Store page and on Amazon.
The eBook can be purchased in all eReader formats (Kindle, iPad, etc.) on Smashwords. The audiobook (MP3 format) is available as either an immediate download or as a mailed DVD. Purchase the version you prefer, by clicking on the appropriate button below.
Email me at ronpeterson@comcast.net with questions and comments and I will respond.
Browse A TIME TO... for free
Ronald Louis Peterson
About Me
I have been an award-winning broadcast journalist and marketing communications executive. Prior to that, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia.
I am now a marketing communications consultant/freelance writer/voice talent.
I live in Westland, MI.
I am now a marketing communications consultant/freelance writer/voice talent.
I live in Westland, MI.
I believe 9/11's 10th Anniversary will generate a great deal of discussion in the months leading up to it. And, I believe that unless the discussion breaks new ground in terms of the implications it has had and will have on our souls, we can expect even worse horrors in the world.
ReplyDeleteWe have dealt with the physical threats 9/11 revealed by going to war, but we have not addressed the spiritual threats and how they affect the way we live our lives going forward.
Since 9/11 it has been difficult for me to believe as I had believed before that good always triumphs over evil. This spiritual foundation cracked on 9/11.
ReplyDeleteThe world became a much less friendly place, more dangerous place. Before I was just concerned about random acts of violence by crazy people on highways and criminals on the streets. Now there is a band of crazies out to kill anyone who thinks differently than they.
In this environment I find myself making a conscious effort to combat the evil that was manifested in 9/11 with random acts of love and kindness. From what friends and acquaintances tell me, they are responding in similar ways. What else can individuals do in the face of such evil if they want humanity to survive as we know it?
It 9/11) was a blow that knocked the wind out of many of us. As the news was still pouring out the next day, I grabbed my guitar and wrote this song:
ReplyDeleteHALF-MAST
By Randy Smith - 9/12/01
My tears well up inside
and I grieve with those who cry,
who struggle with the pain
their lives will never be the same
And the flag flies
at half-mast
And the skies
are overcast
Is it only smoke,
or shadows of tomorrow?
One minute all is well
the next becomes a living hell
a nightmare scene across the screen
as history unfolds
reality can be so cold
And the flag flies
at half-mast
And the skies
are overcast
Is it only smoke,
or shadows of tomorrow?
People doubt,
people shout
Where is God today?
Where is God today?
Asking why,
people cry
Where is God today?
Where is God today?
He is where He has always been
It’s us who turn away
Why does it have to come to this
before we fall down and pray?
We must get down and pray
While the flag flies
at half-mast
And the skies
are overcast
Is it only smoke,
or shadows of tomorrow?
Many people affected by 9/11 speak of long-term impacts:
ReplyDelete"I will forever feel a special bond with my fellow employees who had the same experiences and with those who found themselves in the middle of what seemed like Armageddon."
"More than ever, I am committed to ending the cycle of hatred, wrath and violence that seems to consume so many for so long and for so little gain. I am not an activist, but I will try to do what I can with my own life."
"...Did I come home and share appropriately the experience that would render a positive influence on what I tried to develop as a spiritual perspective? I don't think so... I am impatient with the lack of feedback from God in giving me better direction in where the rest of my life should lead, or perhaps follow."
"I find myself saying prayers for friends and strangers...The heart is very heavy."
"I will be trying harder than I ever have to help bring the world to a better way of living. I think that on September 11, 2001, many millions of people in the world made the same decision."
"I wish there was something I could say that would make it easier. Something that would make it easier for you to understand why we as humans do the things we do to one another."
"Ever since September 11, 2001, I have felt more certain than ever before, that all mankind are united in one grand brotherhood, with God, Love, as our Heavenly Father."