Day 12

A Matter of Honor

Even if my life is to be poured out like a drink offering to complete the sacrifice of your faithful service (that is, if I am to die for you), I will rejoice, and I want to share my joy with all of you. (Philippians 2:17)

Even if my life is to be poured out like a drink offering to complete the sacrifice of your faithful service (that is, if I am to die for you), I will rejoice, and I want to share my joy with all of you. (Philippians 2:17) About an hour into United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco on September 11, 2001, terrorists commandeered the cockpit, herded the passengers to the back of the plane, and turned it back toward a target in Washington D.C. Among those passengers were four remarkable men who didn’t much like being herded around. One was thirty-one-year-old publicist Mark Bingham, who had helped the University of California win the 1991 and 1993 national collegiate rugby championships. He was six foot five, rowdy, and fearless. One was thirty-eight-year-old medical research company executive Tom Burnett, who told his wife over the phone, “I know we’re going to die. Some of us are going to do something about it.” One was thirty-one-year-old businessman Jeremy Glick. He called his wife Lyz, at her parents’ home in Windham, New York, to say good-bye to her and their twelve-week-old daughter, Emmy. One was thirty-two-year-old sales account manager Todd Beamer, who had played third base and shortstop over three seasons for Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Those four brave men apparently came up with a plan to storm the cockpit and attempt to wrest control of the aircraft from the terrorist. Flight 93 never made it to Washington. Instead, it crashed into a field eighty miles southwest of Pittsburg. All passengers and crew perished. Nobody on the ground was killed. What will you do when it is your turn to be poured out for the sake of others?

Dear God, may I value honor more than survival.

What is God saying to you right now? Jot down those thoughts and pray them back to Him.

This devotion was taken from: The One Year Book of Devotions for Men on the Go; June 20; by Stephen Arterburn and Bill Farrel