America is reacting this week to the news of Osama bin Laden’s death. People all around the world who have been living under the threat of terrorism sense that this does not signal the end of al Qaeda, but it is a milestone of some sort. I’ve mentioned that a friend of mine was a pilot on the first plane that was hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center on that infamous day, 9/11. His widow wrote me this week. An idea she communicated has something to say to us as a church and I’ll share it in this week’s Message About Purpose and Strategy. She spoke of a hope grounded in God’s perfect perspective. The fact that he knows everything, and holds our future in his hands, is a tremendous comfort. It is ultimately his divine nature and perfect character that provides us with the confidence to release our past and trust him with our future. Every step we take is a step of faith. I believe that God has great things in store for us and we can reach out to receive it all with assurance. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but it is not worse than a burning skyscraper full of innocent people tumbling down in a heap of smoldering wreckage and twisted metal. If God can comfort and strengthen those who lost loved ones to the disaster of 9/11, then he can empower every one of us to move from whatever is in our past into a preferred future of hope and health! Let’s rise up!