I just wanted to share with you my experience in church today. There was a guest speaker. A Rev. Bob Ossler, Chicago Fireman / Paramedic / Rescue Scuba Diver / Forensic Technician and part-time Chaplain.

He did his time in hell shortly after the events that took place on 9/11/01 in New York City. It was a very interesting speech he did. Sure made a person stop and think.

He told of the horror, the confusion, the mayhem, the break-downs, and the blood and guts from the after affects of the terror that struck America that day.

One of the first things he had to do was go in and help find bodies. He said they never really did find what you or I would call a body, but just parts of. His first experience was when he found a foot. That was all, just a foot. He thought it best, not only for the dead person or their family, but for the other rescue works to hold a small funeral right there at the time of the finding. So he got on his knees and prayed. Many of the rescue workers around him did the same. It seemed to ease their minds so they could continue on with their work.

He was one of the workers that found the group of firefighters huddled together under tons of steel and concrete. I belive there was 7 or 8 firefighters huddled together at that spot. It was a real tough time mentally to see such a sight. Many a fireman broke down at that point. Being that Rev Ossler was there to console and support the firemen as well as aid in the search and rescue, he had to help them through every one of those tough times. He knows that without the strength and courage from God, he could have never made it. He believes in his heart that he also helped many more firemen by sharing that strength from God and was able to witness to those that where non believers.

He showed allot of slide pictures from "ground zero" some very gruesome. There was a picture of a building two blocks away that had about 30% of the windows facing the WTC blown out. He said that it wasn't the blast that broke them. Nor was it parts of the towers or plane parts. Inside each room with a broken window was a body part. Most likely from the people that were inside the planes.

Being that he is a Forensic Technician, he was called upon to identify "items" found by the recuse workers. Some "items" were being discarded because they were not identifiable by a common person. So he had to look at all of them, determine if it was once human, or if it was just a mass of crud. If he determined it to be human, he would hold a short funeral right there on the spot. It seemed to help the rescue workers, and put their mind at ease so they could continue working.

We all have seen the picture of the three firemen raising the flag on that bent pole near ground zero. Well the guy pictured on the left, we need to pray for him. He is not doing very well. So if you're the praying type, please do so for this "man on the left". God will know who you are talking about, and why.

Of course, the moral of his story was that you never know when your time is up, better get "right" with Jesus before that happens.