9/11

Today we remember. With memories of 10 years ago and the events that changed the last decade, we remember that awful event on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I was a senior in high school, trying to get through one last year before heading off to the big city for college. I have a vague memory of driving to school that morning with my mom and hearing scratches over the radio, "New York. *static* Plane *static*" Not thinking much of it, I think I turned off the radio and continued to school.

It wasn't until I was in my first class that my superintendent came in. He had a concerned look on his face and my mind immediately went to two years prior when a friend died in a car accident. A slight panic filled my heart as I looked around at my classmates. Everyone was there and I quickly turned my attention to his words. "Two planes have crashed into the World Trade Centers in New York." I can't remember much after that except he ushered in a TV and showed us the images. It was horrifying. Nothing like this had ever happened in my lifetime.

Within a half hour, he cancelled school and my friends came to my house to watch everything unfold. It felt like some sort of nightmare as we watched over and over the buildings collapsing. All I could think about were the innocent people whose lives were lost. My friends and I were worried.....it would be our generation going off to fight a war. "A war on terrorism", as it was called. It was in those moments that I had a fear like I had never experienced before. The world was a dark and scary place and sin was prevalent.

Looking back, the event is even more horrifying than it was on that day. Whenever I see images, I think of not only the lives lost, but the lives forever changed. The spouses who are alone now, the children without fathers and mothers, the parents without sons and daughters, and the people who were directly affected by 9/11.

This morning I watched a bit of the memorial before church and I think the Psalm read is a perfect one to end this post with:

Psalm 46
"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress."