For some weeks now I have been searching for answers to some of life’s impossible questions and since earlier this week I was desperately looking for hope and meaning in my life. This morning, as I was aimlessly browsing through some old pictures, I came across this image I took in March 2004 inside the St Paul’s Chapel, directly opposite the street from ground zero in downtown Manhattan. Now for those of you who might not know, St Paul’s Chapel remained standing without a broken pane of glass when life ended all around it on that black and fateful day in September 2001. I also found a poem written by a J Chester Johnson, one of over 5000 volunteers who labored tirelessly while recovery efforts continued at ground zero. He wrote this about St Paul’s Chapel: It stood. Not a window broken. Not a stone dislodged. It stood when nothing else did. It stood when terrorists brought September down. It stood among myths. It stood among ruins. It stood in place of other sorts. It stood when nothing else could. The great had fallen, as the brute hardware came down. It stood. Now if you haven’t been to ground zero and to the St Paul’s Chapel in New York City, I don’t think you can really appreciate the geography of how close this Chapel is to the 911 site and therefore you can never fully comprehend this miracle. What this image, J Chester Johnson and the brave people of New York taught me today (almost 7 years later) was to have newfound hope. I want to invite anyone out there who are experiencing desperation or fear or heartache or anything that is depriving you of hope and joy, to join me in being little “Chapels” ourselves. Let us never allow anyone to break our windows or dislodge our stones. Let us stand among myths and ruins. Let us stand and shine with hope when nothing else can. With love. xx