A WALKING MIRACLE

On September 11, 2001 Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell (from U.S. Army Headquarters) had just stepped into a Pentagon hallway when the fireball from the hijacked plane hit him. After recovering from the initial shock, Birdwell realized he was on fire. "Jesus, I'm coming to see you," he remembers praying.

When doctors finally attended to him at the Washington Burn Center, they found second-and third-degree burns over 40 percent of Birdwell's body. To save him, they performed several skin graft operations.

Birdwell lives now with renewed purpose. "I'm a walking miracle. Christ got me out of the fire. In Him not taking me, that means I have a mission to complete. He'll tell me what it is in due time." 

-- Steve Gertz from the U.S. News & World Report

Editor's note: This September 11 Remembrance quote was first shared in SOUND BITES four years ago. To see how God has been using Brian Birdwell in these years since the attack, visit his web site at www.facethefire.org.


#3063

NEW CHAPTERS IN OUR LIVES

New chapters in our lives often begin with an orientation. You go through an orientation when you start at a new school or get a new job. But God begins new chapters in our lives via disorientation. Jesus didn't do orientations. Jesus did disorientations. Doesn't it seem like His disciples were in a constant state of disorientation? We think it's because of their spiritual immaturity, but maybe it models the way God makes disciples. Sometimes God needs to disorient us so He can reorient us. 

-- Mark Batterson in Chasing the Wild Goose: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God


#3061

PROMOTING GROWTH

"So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing."  (1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT)

Our words can promote growth by wrapping others in a cocoon of love and hope.

-- Gary Smalley and John Trent


#3060

BLESSED ASSURANCE

"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life."  (1 John 5:12-13 NIV)

What is unique about the kingdom of God is that you are assured of victory.  You have won!  You are assured that you will someday stand before the face of God and see the King of kings.  You are assured that someday you will enter a world where there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow. 

-- Max Lucado


#3059

TALKING ABOUT OTHERS

"There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right." (Psalm 106:3 NIV)

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.

-- Leo Aikman

 

 

#3058