Eight days later, it was still and eerie sight. Against the night sky, the portable lights accentuated the smoke and dust still rising from Ground Zero. Helicopter gunships circled the area, reminding us of the instability of our situation. As our Port Authority police work crew drove the four blocks from the command Post to the area that once was the World Trade Center, there was still this sense of surrealism. As we walked the final block to Ground Zero, passing rows of armed military guards along the way, the surrealism gave way to the reality of cranes, bulldozers, dump trucks, and the stench of burning rubber and plastic. I have never been in a war zone, but I cannot imagine one looking any worse than what I was seeing. Two hundred and twenty stories each weighing a million pounds had simply imploded.
Our crew waited patiently while the cranes and bulldozers moved tons of debris. Then came the sound of horn and the call that a “bucket line” was needed. That was when various agencies (hundreds from across the nation) came together to form two lines a hundred yards long and they passed five-gallon buckets of debris from around the air pockets to the debris pile on the perimeter. That was when hopes of finding survivors or human remains would peak. On that night, over four thousand people remained unaccounted for and ten percent of them were firefighters and law enforcement. For the brave men and woman on the bucket lines, this was not just a job. It was a mission.
As I stood at the PAPD staging area, I was approached by the Reverend Everett Wabst, a chaplain for the Fire Department of New York. He was checking my credentials for on-site chaplains. During our conversation, I asked about Father Mychal Judge. He was a senior chaplain for the FDNY and the first confirmed fatality on September 11. He was killed by falling debris as he knelt beside a victim while administering the last rites. Everett then offered me a laminated card and said it was Father Mychal’s favorite prayer: “Lord, take me where you want me to go. Let me meet who You want me to meet. Tell me what you want me to say and keep me out of Your way.”
Father Mychal had great insight based on Galatians 2:20. Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer lives, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in this body, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me,” The absolute best way to be used by God is to empty ourselves of our selves so that God can speak and act through us. It is He Who draws others to the Lord Jesus (John 6:44). Sometimes He might want to use us in our church or community where we are comfortable, and folks know us. Sometimes He might want to use us outside our comfort zones where danger lurks, and sacrifice is a very real possibility. The real issue is our willingness to obey, submit to His leadership, and humble ourselves. It is God Who changes lives. We are merely His instruments
