Why I Won't Forget 9/11

I looked out the window at the clear blue skies and sighed. Another beautiful fall day. Boring, but beautiful. I like weather! When every day is the same life just starts to seem dull. Plus, the routine was starting over again with the college and the usual autumn activities. Living in a small town, it was the same old same old. I started to get dressed and look forward to my morning cup of coffee.

The phone rang, always an insult at 7 AM. I picked up fast so it wouldn't wake our youngest, since he didn't need to get up for another hour.

"Hello" I said, more a statement than a greeting.

"Rob? It's Pam. Do you have the news on by any chance?"

Now I was irrritated for real. I hate the TV on in the morning and couldn't understand why anyone else would either. "Well, no. Why should I?"

"Because planes have crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon!"

I blinked and said something idiotic, like "What? Are you kidding?" As my brain cells started firing I realized no one would make this up, said goodbye and woke up my wife. We sat down bleary eyed and watched with the world the horrible events of September 11, 2001. We were watching as the first tower fell. My wife had been in New York City just a year before and had eaten in the restaraunt at the top of the Trade Center. I will never forget her words as she watched the first tower implode in a cataclysmic cloud of smoke and ash....."It's the end of the world..." she said in hushed tones. Indeed, it felt that way as we watched the unimaginable. "You have no idea how huge those buildings are!" she added.

As the day went on and we heard about the Pentagon, I suddenly realized that my old friend Kevin was working there! An officer in the Air Force, he had recently relocated to D.C. and I thought of his wife and children and what they must be going through. Suddenly, it was personal. These people just tried to kill friends of mine.

Knowing I would never get through to his wife, I called his brother in L.A. and found that thankfully, he was on the other side of the building when the plane hit and was safe. It was hard to imagine and when I later talked with him and heard his story, it was like a Tom Clancy novel. Unbelievable.

A few years later, terrorsim got personal again. One of our students in our ministry here named Kris went on a motorcycle trip across Africa with some friends, helping missionaries and humanitarian efforts along the way. It was quite a trip and as they finished they found themselves in Cairo. Only a few days before they were to come back to the states, they were in an outdoor bazaar, soaking in the exotic culture. Everywhere shop keepers were hawking their wares and people pushed and shoved their way through the crowded marketplace. A man with a basket bumped into Kris and stopped next to him. He bent over the basket and did something that Kris couldn't see. Suddenly a giant fist and a deafening noise slammed into Kris along with what was left of the man's body. Incredibly, another Muslim extremist had set off a bomb in the bazaar, killing two of Kris's friends and seriously hurting him and the other friend. (you can read the full story in the recent book The Only Road North, published by Zondervan).

It had happend again: another friend of mine nearly killed. Every time I think of it, I am angry.

And so I do not forget 9/11 and what it stands for. I flew the flag this year as I always do, but I saw no one else on our block with one this year. Perhaps they didn't know anyone that day or in any other attacks. Perhaps they don't think it is that important.

But they are wrong.

These people are not done.

They have tried to kill my friends.

One day, they may try to kill you. Or your spouse. Or your kids.

Thank God for our troops, and our President for trying to stop them. May we never forget what happened that day...

and may we thank God for those beautiful fall days, when nothing really big seems to happen............