where were you?

I was 22 years old, had been married for 2 years and was getting ready for work.  Chris, who had already left for work, called me on the phone and told me to turn on the tv.  I never had the tv on in the morning because I just didn't have the time but that day I turned on the tv.

I watched in stunned silence as the smoke billowed up from the first tower.  I prayed for the people who were on that plane.  I remember the shock and horror I felt as I watched the second plane hit and the reality set in that this was not an accident.   I couldn't believe it when the news anchors shouted out in alarm that people were actually leaping from the towers.  To know that a person had consciously made the decision to jump from the top of a building because it seemed like the better option broke my heart.

I prayed and thanked God that my family was safe and I called to see that my friends were ok.  I called up one friend and we stayed on the phone together all day watching the news coverage of what would later be known as 9/11.  We watched in disbelief as if we would go to sleep that night and wake up the next day realizing it had all been a bad dream.  I don't remember doing anything that day other than sitting there and wondering what was happening in our world.  I remember feeling very small and insignificant but was glad that I had someone to talk to so that I didn't feel alone.  There were so many questions in my mind...What was going to happen?  Who would do something as like this?

The safety that we all felt living in a country of great privilege was shaken that day.  I was reminded today during our pastor's sermon about the sovereignty of God.  I have hope knowing that God is sovereign.  He alone has absolute power and authority.  He knew this event would take place before the foundation of the world.  Could He have stopped it from happening?  Yes, I believe He definitely could.  Then why would He cause this to happen?  I don't have the answer to that.  We may not understand why things happen in our world.  I don't think we are meant to understand everything.  What I do know is that we can trust God completely, even though bad things happen.  Habakkuk 3:16-19 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.  Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.  Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  GOD, the Lord, is my strength...  

God provides grace and mercy.  He is present with us in every situation.  Deuteronomy 31:8 It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.  And He is more powerful than any of our enemies.  Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  

In Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus gives a response to someone who was testing him and asking what was the greatest commandment in the law.  This is what Jesus said, "...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."  

When I read that during the sermon today I wondered if 9/11 would have happened if the world had followed Jesus and His commands.  If the terrorists had loved the Lord with all their hearts, souls and minds and had chosen to love their neighbors as themselves there would have been no attack.  But sin is a very real thing in all of our lives.  No one can completely avoid it.  It puts us in spiritual bondage and separates us from God.  How often do we all fail to follow Jesus' commands?  God is a just God.  Yes, He is a loving God but He will punish sinners.  We can not do anything to save ourselves.  The only way we can be saved from our sins is through Jesus.  Isaiah 53:3-6 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  Jesus suffered and died for each and every one of us.  Those who believe in him will be saved.  Romans 10:9-13 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him.  For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

I sat in church today with Ashlyn sitting next to me.  As I looked at her sitting in the chair next to me, hardly big enough to keep the movie theater style seat from folding up, I thought again of her innocence.  The innocence of both Ashlyn and Landon.  What did they think about all that they had heard about 9/11?  Landon came home last week and told us that his teacher talked to them about how there were some really big buildings and some bad people flew planes into them and a lot of people died.  What did he think about that?  All of the kids at the school tied red ribbons on a fence to remember the lives that were lost that day.  What did they think about the world?  Would they be afraid?

I will answer their questions when they come.  I will talk to them about sin, and the evil in this world.  I will also remind them about their loving God who is always with us.  That we don't have to be afraid.  And that He loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us...because at the end of the day that is what matters...  we have hope in Christ alone.