9-11

I suppose that most of us remember where we were and what we were doing on the morning of September 11, 2001. I certainly do.

My biggest worry was that I was facing my fortieth birthday in about a month. I was serving as pastor of the Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church in Henry County. We had hired a new church secretary and I was in my second day of training her. On my way into the office I had heard on the radio that a plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

I chalked it up to a very bizarre accident. I turned a radio on in the office only to learn that another plane had crashed into the other tower. This was no accident. I sent my new secretary home and closed the office for the day and went home and sat riveted in front of my television. I then learned of the crash at the Pentagon and the crash of a plane over a field in Pennsylvania.

My daughter was in the third grade at the time. I picked her up from school that afternoon and asked her if they had told them anything at school that day about what was taking place and she said no. Then she said her teacher was real upset about something. I would later learn that her husband was on a plane to Washington that very morning. Though all was well just the thought of what might have been was debilitating.

We were having a meeting at the church that evening as a part of our fund raising program for a new building we were constructing. Needless to say, we canceled the meeting. Instead we gathered for a time of prayer. I was amazed at the crowd that gathered at the church on such short notice.

The whole thing seems as surreal now as it did then. Now, we are eight years removed from the incident. That third grader I picked up at school that day is now a high school junior. The building we were planning in Henry County has been built for six years. I have been reassigned to a different church. Today that fortieth birthday seems like the stuff of my youth. A lot of things have changed.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is that there are still those who are envious of the way of life that we enjoy in this country. There are those who would like nothing more than to see this great experiment of freedom and liberty fail. Several thousand young American men and women have given their lives to see that what happened on September 11 will not happen again.

So it is that the infamous date looms on our calendar yet again. We cannot forget what happened that day. We cannot forget those who lost their lives that day. We cannot forget those who have given their lives to prevent that day from happening again. We cannot forget those basic values of liberty and justice for all even though they seem to be a threat to so many.

What I also remember about that time is the surge in pride and patriotism after that day. Sadly it often takes a tragedy to make us appreciate the life we lead. Love for our country should not require a tragedy to bring that love to the surface it should be a way of life for all of us.

So it is that today I will thank God for the blessings of life in this great land. I will say thank you for those who have given of themselves to keep us free. I pray that we will be worthy of their sacrifice.