From: "Barb Kavouras (by way of Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, )" To: Subject: CLIMB: Chaplain Field Report NYC 10/9/01 Date: Friday, November 02, 2001 12:28 PM These reports may be passed on only in their entirety. Barb K Cleveland kavouras@multiverse.com Field Report NYC 10/9/01 Dear Friends, If there's one bright spot to this current crisis it's that the Word of God and the Life that is gives, is being sought with new fervor. Though many people don't really understand the great foundation that it provides - they do perceive that there is one there, and they earnestly hope that they can stand on it now. As we sing in the hymn (and I pity those from whom this treasure of majestic and awesome Gospel comfort has been taken away) "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." (TLH 380) This is a bright spot I say because God's mighty Word imparts what it promises to us: the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. Grant this Lord unto us all. After returning to my hotel at 8:00 this morning, bed was the only thing on my mind. I had been up for 24 hours and was useless to anyone. Last evening about 10:30 p.m. my partner and I, an agent from Kansas City, headed for the Staten Island landfill by way of "ground zero". After six check points manned by New York's finest, troopers of the New York Highway Patrol and Military personnel we parked the car and walked the entire inner perimeter trying to take in the magnitude of the destruction. The piles that had been the twin towers have been reduced to about 40 feet in height by my loose estimate. The large treaded excavators climbing up and down the piles reminded me of Lilliputians scaling sleeping Gulliver. But that's not all the damage. The Verizon building, a massive behemoth of sturdy frame did not come down, but sustained serious damage both to its exterior and its interior electronic contents. Other buildings which have no particular name on them, have whole sides with shattered windows and who knows what loss within. A few office structures still stand but with massive fire damage. This is something you don't usually see in large office buildings, for under normal circumstances such fires are quickly dealt with, and contained to small sections. But that day, there was no stopping the devil's deadly woe. Truly "on *earth* is not his equal". And this was confirmed ever more poignantly later in the night when I toured the vehicle section of the Staten Island landfill. There I beheld hundreds of vehicles which had been crushed, twisted and burned, like so many bunches of thoughtlessly discarded aluminum foil. And most prominent and most desolate among them, resting in their own special section, lie dozens of fire apparatus. Hook and ladders trucks, pumpers, ambulances and the like - who like our Lord Himself, had succumbed to the fate from which they had saved so many others, but in the end would not save themselves. At ground zero, we talked to many of the hundreds of people working to bring these remains (human and otherwise) to their final resting places. Such a spirit of human cooperation I have never seen in my 51 years; and the spirit of humility and of reverence, long absent from American soil, was most encouraging. Truly the Law of God has been preached here in all its severity without a single word being spoken. One familiar with the Bible could not walk those grounds without thinking of our Lord's words regarding Jerusalem: "there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Luke 21:6) But a person familiar with that same Bible will also find hope! for it tells us that: we are "strangers and pilgrims on earth" and that "here we have no continuing city". But that by virtue of our connection to Christ, we are headed for a heavenly city, one whose builder and maker is God. This is a city with foundations which will never fail, not now and not ever. For God is in that city, and our dear Lord Jesus Christ rules it with His love and grace. All who have been baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are heirs of that City and can take refuge in this blessed truth, even when steeples are falling! Once we reached our intended destination, the Staten Island landfill where all debris is brought, sifted and processed, we met with many people glad to see God's presence among them, in the person of a Christian pastor. There I was pleasantly surprised to see two people from United Airlines who had worked in Somerset PA. I didn't recognize them and at first they didn't recognize me. But as we talked and the subject of Flight 93 came up both men said: you're the chaplain who did the Service at the crash site in Somerset aren't you? Having confirmed their suspicion I was most gratified to hear that they had received much comfort from said Service and that one of the two had sent a copy of the sermon to his mother, who also obtained strength from it. How comforting it was to find such people in what many would call: a God-forsaken place. And so it seems to all but the eye of faith. Many hundreds of people sifting through rubble, in the cold and the dark and the wind and the rain and the smells, in 12 hour shifts; dressed like actors in a second rate sci-fi movie; working like so many ants. But turning up evidence, and piecing together a story (yet to be told) that only these blessed ministers of God's justice from the FBI and NYPD could ever find. Talking to them in the rest tent, where they had to be de-contaminated to enter, I found many a forlorn person. As we talked and the subject of fear came up, one burly NYPD detective, whom I am sure has seen it all . . . and more besides, said "we're scared, chaplain". A brief silence ensued. I wish I could say that I had some great words of wisdom for him, but at the moment I didn't. As the conversation wound down and they went back to work I offered each of them the booklet "God's Word of Encouragement" which I customarily pass out. They each opened their white, zippered suits, and signaled for me to put it in their inner pocket. I'm sure (or I'd be at home right now instead of this God-awful city) that my presence, and the Word of God which I would bet they each later read, gave them something that will benefit them much. This along with *your* prayers for their well-being will give what no other agency on earth can. Later that night/morning, I was present for the 5:30 a.m. roll call. I offered to the Lieutenant that I would open up this shift with prayer if he liked, to which he readily agreed. This was no time for innovation. I offered a very few feeble words of my own, then closed on the highest possible note by inviting them to pray a prayer that God will never deny, the words given us by the Son of God Himself. And how heartening it was that all there, perhaps 75 detectives in all, knew those words by memory and called together on "Our Father." On the lighter side, everything you've ever seen or heard or read about NYC is true. Five minutes into the city last Sunday and I thought I had been magically transported into a television program. Its loud, fast, weird, never sleeps, filled with taxi cabs, hundreds of different smells, restaurants, theatres, thousands of (literally) hole-in-the-wall cheap trinket shops - it's a parody of itself. No one speaks English without an accent of some sort, including (and maybe especially) the natives; and some large percentage (40%?) don't speak it at all. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Rev. Dean Kavouras, Chaplain FBI Cleveland Division Cleveland Safety Forces + + + Confessional Lutherans in Missionary Boldness + + + The CLIMB e-letter brings you unedited, uncut reports directly from the mission field, whether in South America, Africa, Europe, inner-city, rural, or collegiate America, or military installations and battle sites around the world. 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