Sep 11 2008
Where Were You …
…on 9/11/01?
On September 10, 2001, my parents had been visiting and we left the Peoria area, following their RV, for St. Louis. Just outside of St. Louis, only a few miles from the campground where we’d be staying that night, Clifford’s (the big red van, yes) fuel pump died. Dead. Six lane road, at the stop light, van full of children (including Peter who at the time was just shy of 3 months old).
We managed to get everyone loaded into the RV and I waited (somebody helped me tow the van out of traffic) for the AAA tow guy to come and take it to a mechanic. They were able to get it in and told us they could finish it in the morning.
The next morning (before we’d gone to pick up the van) dad and I were working on clearing a drain in the RV and somebody came up and told us that we should turn on a TV because somebody had just flown a plane into the World Trade Center. We missed the second plane, but we saw the people jumping and the buildings drop to the ground even as firefighters were running in.
Moriah, who was just five then, was asking questions and we were explaining, some of us through tears, what was going on. After a bit of watching we decided we needed to go on with our day.
When dad and I went to pick up the van, there were lines around the block at many gas stations. People were acting erratically.
We had planned to go up in the arch, but it was closed (or we knew it would be). But still we went to the zoo. I remember vividly finding a dollar bill in the parking lot and not letting the kids touch it because of the anthrax scare going on, and I remember there being a feeling of haze over our visit. I have more memories of the previous trip to the zoo when Elsie was a few months old than I do of this one.
Since that day, things have changed. But on that day, and every day, I am thankful that I know, would I have been in that building or someplace nearby, or in any dangerous place, that God is watching over me and that death takes me Home.
Many families still mourn the losses of that day, as do I. But one thing that was true before 9/11 and is true since: God is merciful and slow to anger and wishes to bestow His grace on all who will repent and turn to Jesus.
So in that crisis, and every crisis, an opportunity exists to turn to Jesus for forgiveness and life. He is the only one in whom it is found, and He gives it freely to all who ask in faith.
Sunday I posted that we are expecting another child. We are joyously fearful in that news. We are joyous because this child is a life, being knit together inside Theresa, and is an amazing and wonderful creature in God’s image. And we are fearful because between Peter and Margary we lost six children to miscarriages and at one point in 2006 we thought we were losing Margary too. And God allowed her to be with us and she is a deep joy in our lives. One that we wouldn’t trade for anything.
Death is ever present in this world. Death surrounds us every day, and we ignore it or embrace it, but it is there whether we remember or not. And Jesus comes to bring freedom from death and it’s power, and He will destroy death in the last day.
9/11 was the last day on earth for thousands of people. Today may be mine, and I pray that I will live it in the same way that I would if I knew that. And one day will be yours. Don’t hesitate to come to Jesus and be freed from the sting of death. Consider where you were, and where you should be. Come, repent, and live.
My baby boy was 3 weeks old. He was in the Neo-natal intensive care, due to a premature birth. I was at a hotel near the hospital getting ready to spend the day at the NICU. As I watched my baby struggle to live I watched innocent people leap to their death. We will never forget.
My baby boy just turned 7 three weeks ago.