Friday Funnies

Teaching is keeping me busy so I don't always have time to post Friday Funnies but this week I do!  Here are three funny pictures to help you start your weekend with a laugh.

Enjoy!

15 Years Ago...

15 years ago today was a Tuesday. Kind of strange, but very few of us could say with much certainty what day of the week it was 15 years ago. But September 11th, 2001 was not like any other day, was it?

Because fifteen years ago, two hijacked passenger airplanes brought down the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Defense Department. A fourth plane crashed in a field in the state of Pennsylvania. The areas where the September 11 attacks took place have been repaired and rebuilt, but the ground — and the lives of many Americans -- were forever changed.

The events of that day are now known as the 9/11 terrorist attacks.The attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists. 

A lot has changed since that Tuesday. In New York City, the look of lower Manhattan changed when the two World Trade Center towers were brought down on 9-11. Now, One World Trade Center stands close to where those twin towers once stood. The new structure is taller, and serves as an example of the city’s strength, and ability to come back from such a tragic event.

Alice Greenwald is director of New York’s 9/11 Memorial Museum. She says there is progress at “ground zero”— the name given to the area where the towers once stood. It is the place where almost 3,000 people lost their lives.

"You have magnificent new towers that are standing. You have tower three rising, you have the new transportation hub and you have this magnificent memorial in the center of it. So it is a place now of commemoration and of life..."

The rest of America has changed as well. I pastor a church in a military community, and to most every soldier I speak to, 9/11 changed the course of their history, their families, their entire lives. Many of them have been deployed 5, 6, 7, or even 8 times since that fateful day. So many days missed with their children and their spouses. And many of them have scars. Some physical, other scars run much deeper--so deep you can't see. Emotions. Nightmares. Flashbacks. All because of the hatred of extreme, radical Muslims.

It reminds me of a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from his book Strength to Love. I shared it a few weeks ago, but I think the words are so powerful, they need to be shared again...

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of hate. 

Any religion or beliefs that cause us to hate another individual who has been made in the image of God (by the way, that's EVERYBODY!!) isn't a religion from God but from Satan. True religion that comes from God always forces us to love everyone--friends and enemies alike. So let's don't forget what happened 15 years ago on that fateful Tuesday. But let's also don't forget that hatred is never the answer to hate. God is love, and He calls us to love.

Friday Funnies: Pumpkin Spice

I'm back with funnies this week!  It's September which means: everything known to man turns to "pumpkin spice" flavor. Lattes, donuts, creamer, cookies, toothpaste (okay maybe not that last one) are full of it.

For those of you who are super excited for all things pumpkin spice, and those of you who are like me and think this is absurd...today's funnies are for you.

Zombies are not a fan.