- 250 – Emperor Decius begins a wide spread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred.
- 1649 – Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other “high crimes.”
- 1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
- 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials decided on the “final solution to the Jewish question”, accelerating the Holocaust.
- 1990 – Black January – crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
- 1991 – Sudan’s government imposes Islamic law nationwide worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.
- 1992 – Air Inter flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg France killing 82 passengers and five crew.
- 1999 – The China News Service announces new government restrictions on internet use.
- 2009 – My wife collapses and slips into unconsciousness at 10:32pm at the Western Inaugural Gala, Washington D.C. Just minutes before our newly minted President Barrack Obama is about to step onto the stage with his wife.
- When I look back at January 20th of the past, I can label all these events bad and get angry and combative. Want to see the dark days of our past? They’re there. But if I change my focus just a little (you don’t even have to squint) you also find the same days live in virtue.
- 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred. After his death, he becomes a saint. A prayer is dedicated in his honor.
- “Pope Saint Fabian, it’s so easy to believe that peace means a life without conflict or suffering. Help us to see that only true peace is the peace that Christ brings. Never let us as a church or as individual Christians choose to deny our beliefs simply to avoid an unpleasant situation. Amen.”
- His prayer and his legacy has gone on to help countless people who might have lost their faith and their convictions.
- 1649 – Charles I of England proclaims that he has the divine right of kings, which is the belief that kings receive their power from God. Their power was a mandate from Heaven and absolute. It could easily be argued that from King Charles we learn that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Through his actions, we understand that there must be a balance of power. Even from the ashes can rise a phoenix to guide us.
- We can go through the entire list, heck, our entire lives and point to the bad or pluck out the good. They’re both there. An unexpected dehydration and then getting a concussion can be one way I can choose to remember January 20, 2009, but that’s not how I choose to remember it. When asked what happened on that special day, I will only have one response. As a nation, just like my wife, we woke up and all of us became a part of history.
