I will never forget the day the glass shattered, the ash fell, and our world was changed forever.I was a not-so-young mother of three. I had just dropped my three-year-old off at Moppets and was sitting in the auditorium at MOPS waiting for our leader, just chit-chatting with my friends.
My two middle children had just been born the previous month and probably didn't weigh much more than their three pound birth weight. They were possibly still in the hospital or had already gone to live with their foster parents (who sacrificed greatly to keep them in the same home). I didn't even know they were mine, yet. We were still full of hope and waiting anxiously for news that they had found us a child.
In the next moment, our leader approached the platform and told us that a plane had flown into the 1st tower. At the time, we had no way of knowing the extent of what would happen that day. We prayed for the people who lost their lives and for the city of New York. And then we went about our morning.
I remember flipping on the TV later that morning and watching the devastation - people running, buildings burning, smoke and ash chasing people down the streets of NYC. I remember desperatley wanting to hear my husband's voice, to be with him.
Today, I think of all those who would desperately like to hear the voices of their loved ones - the voices that were silenced on that dark day.
On my way to church this morning, I told my 10-year-olds about that day, about the planes, and the selfishness of those pilots, and the selflessness of those passengers. And I choked up when I told them that there were people who didn't want another plane to kill more people, so they sacrificed themselves. They put others first. They gave their lives.
My children won't remember the events of that day. They were too young. They only know what they learned in school or saw on TV. They won't remember the hands stretching out to offer hope to their neighbors and people choosing to see the needs of others as more important than themselves. They won't remember how a country gathered up its courage and refused to live in fear or how for a brief time, a nation cried out with one voice to its Creator for help.
The Bible tells us to remember the past, not just so we can mourn all over again. Remembering helps us have hope.Never forget!
Never forget that evil is real.
Never forget what happens when people put away petty differences and selfish motives.
Never forget what happens when there is clarity and unity of purpose.
Never forget that there is One who can take whatever evil can dish out and use it for good.
Never forget that He is the one who is in control!
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15: 1-6)
Photos were taken in a very dark auditorium at our 911 memorial service on my husband's Android phone. (My apologies!) We started the service with "I was..." and ended with "I will..." The challenge was, "Where is your hope and what will you do to trust God in that hope in the days ahead." People hung their responses on a chain link fence much like the one at Ground Zero. Powerful service!
