Adam was annoyed. He had been so busy for so long and now his head office in San Francisco was calling him to a week long round of meetings to determine why his division weren’t meeting their goals. The airline tickets sat discarded on his office desk. Adam had been grumbling to his associate Josh for months that if they didn’t get their act together one of them would have to go to the head office. Adam had hoped that it would have been Josh.

The trouble was that Adam had a long weekend planned. He really had been working too hard for too long and a weekend at the shore was just what he needed. He REALLY didn’t want to go to San Francisco. Earlier in the month Adam had tried to cajole Josh that perhaps Josh should be the one to go to the round of meetings, Josh had politely declined. He had quite correctly stated that Adam was the senior of the two and besides which Josh had some other East Coast meetings scheduled that week.

But Adam really did not want to go. Adam didn’t mind bending the truth now and then, perhaps a little exaggerating, but he didn’t like outright lying, but perhaps… just this once.

Poking his head into Josh’s office Adam said “Bad news I’m afraid, my Grandma just passed, we’ve been expecting it for sometime, but my Mom is really cut up about it, think I’m going to have to take some time out of the office and travel down to Charlotte to help out a bit”.

Josh looked up concerned “Oh, I’m sorry, please pass my condolences onto your mother”

“The only trouble is” Adam continued “One of us is supposed to go to head office next Tuesday for the round of meetings – I know you had those meetings arranged, but is there any chance you could do it – I’ll make it up to you”

Josh looked a little crestfallen, but what other option did he have? “OK, I’ll do it, but you owe me”

Adam walked back to his office, he would have to transfer the tickets into Josh’s name. He looked at the tickets that had arrived that morning, he had to call up United. The call center operative quickly agreed to the change. “Could you please give me the date and the flight number please sir?” Adam looked it up “Tuesday September 11 2001, Flight United 93”

When the events of September 11 unfolded, how do you think Adam would have felt? Grief stricken that he had essentially killed his colleague? Or do you think he would just blown it off as fate?

The other day I was thinking about this scenario and was putting myself in the place of an “Adam”, I was considering how such an event would probably radically shake you up. “It was my lies that put Josh on that plane.” Then I considered the scenario of the death of Jesus. He also died in my place, it was also my sin which caused his death. It is also his death which gives me another chance at life. Do we just think Jesus died for the “sins of the world” or do we truly realise he died for “my sins”. And in light of this are we repentant and thankful as we ought to be?