One Single Moment in Time

One event at a single moment in time can alter a life, impact the lives of countless people, change the course of the future.

My family spent this past weekend on a little get away to Oklahoma City. We just wanted to escape to someplace different. Besides shopping elbow to elbow with every Oklahoman in the state, we went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. In the museum visitors walk through different "chapters" in the story ranging from the history of the site for the Alfred P. Murrah Building, the events on April 19,1995 when the bombing occurred and on through the stories of the victims, the families, the rescuers and others whose lives were impacted. It's a very moving exhibit.

Outside where the Murrah building and street used to be is a field of chairs representing those whose lives were lost in the building and a reflecting pool which is flanked on each side by two "Gates of Time." The wall-like gate to the east bears the time 9:01, the moment before the bombing. To the west the time displayed is 9:03, the moment after the bombing.

9:02 - That is the moment in time that changed everything for so many people. I can't imagine what some of those people have gone through and still go through. The final chapter in the museum is "Hope."

Tonight and tomorrow we will celebrate a moment in time when everything changed for the entire world. The Hope of Nations came to us. The angels sang in a glorious choir, the stars even declared the event. In spite of the hustle and bustle of the "holiday season" we can't escape knowing that Christmas is really about is the birth of Jesus Christ.

Though that event, the birth of Emmanuel, God with us, has impacted the history of the world, we must each choose how it will impact our lives. The moment one kneels at the manger and accepts all Jesus offers in His coming will be one of those moments that will alter their life, can impact the lives of countless others, and might very well change the very course of history.

Please, take a moment and change everything.