Most Christians have done just that; they made themselves at home in this fallen and falling world. We have taken a bite out of the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, just like our first parents. Instead of heeding warnings that our life is a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow. We have put away our tents and camps to no longer take the pilgrimage with Abraham, looking for a better city to come, the New Jerusalem. We instead settle where we are and look to reform what we have.

God gives us a glimpse of what He has for the humble, and the devil comes right away to give us a glimpse of what we can have in a micro-moment. It is often the same vision but a quicker timeline because we are without patience and want it now. Instead of worshipping God through serving Him only, we bow down in front of the god of this world and serve ourselves.

So, we Christians have made this world our home. We reform, refurbish, and renovate. And in doing so, we forget we are in this world but not of it. Instead of seeking God for His will to be done, we plan alongside the world for our will to be done over the seventy or eighty years we believe we have. We are not seeking God to redeem our time but living our time as if we have all the time in the world. We don't need to redeem the time if God doesn't have a definite time to return. There is a set time even if there is a slight delay.

And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity. – Luke 13:22-27

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, - 1 Timothy 4:1-2

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, - Hebrews 3:12-14

September 11, 2001, 9/11 is a day to remember. Of the 2,977 people who died that day, I want to remember the estimated 200 jumpers.

When the plane hit the first tower, all elevators and stairwells to the upper floors were demolished; there was no going down to save yourself and no first responders going up to the rescue. Because of the fire, no helicopter rescues were possible. The only way to escape the inferno was to jump.

The Twin Towers were about one-quarter a mile high, 1,368 feet tall, or 110 stories. The media stayed away mostly from broadcasting the jumpers. You can find some pictures and videos, but the jumps were so horrendous that the public couldn't stomach the visual.

The firefighters who gathered for direction at the doors of the Twin Towers would hear these thuds, thinking it was debris falling about, aghast that it was the bodies of men and women. Every few seconds, there would be a thud. Bodies of husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, friends and schoolmates were smashing to the ground. A few people jumped together, holding hands. The first firefighter casualty was a falling jumper.

What is it that the public couldn't stomach, the view of people jumping to their deaths, that the jumpers found falling a more tolerable death? I must paint a picture that I can only imagine why they chose to jump.