9-11...Ten Year Anniversary

I remember it well. The day was warm, the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and things were quiet here on our north Mississippi farm. All seemed to be as it should be the day of September 11, 2001. I had already started cooking our dinner that day when the phone rang. On the other end of the phone line was one of my good friends in North Carolina. The first words out of her mouth were, “Do you have your TV on?” When I answered, “No”, she told me that terrorists had sabotaged the Twin Towers of the Trade Center in New York. My first thought was, “Terrorists?” I wasn’t even sure if I knew what that meant. But it did strike fear in my heart. I went out to the shop where my husband and a friend were working on some projects and told them what was going on. They turned on the radio out there and listened to the news. I came back to the house and turned on the TV and tried to finish cooking dinner while at the same time keeping my eyes glued to the TV. It seemed the news just got worse and worse. Instead of being a minor incident, this was a major catastrophe for the United States. People all over the land were praying. After the dust started settling, I was better able to understand why we called the people who had done this to us, “terrorists”, for certainly they had brought Terror to our land. (“Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.” Job 18:11)

Many things have changed for every one of us since this happened ten years ago. Some have lost loved one and friends. But at the same time we have gained friends through shared grief. Some of us have had children join the armed forces. Our son John joined the Marine Corps shortly after September 11, 2001. Because of this I gained a multitude of friends who are either Marines themselves or else have a child in the Marines. They were a true source of help and comfort during the initial time of adjusting.

Ten years ago we saw just how quickly a normal, sunshiny day can turn into a dark disaster. But we should also remember that there is One who knows our life from beginning to end and is there to walk beside us no matter where the road leads. This would be a good time for each of us to look into our own heart and make sure that our testimony is the same as the motto on our American currency…”In God We Trust”. Only then can we take comfort in the verses found in Psalm 91:1-6 (“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”)