Memories of 9-11

There are a few events in my life that have had a profound impact on me. These have been the moments when my life’s journey has been stopped in its tracks and I have been forced to evaluate where I was headed. Perhaps I’m strange (I’m sure there is no shortage of evidence to this effect) but even as a child, events such as the first moon landing, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the Olympic hostage situation in ’72 and other such events have brought life’s meaning into clearer focus. I suppose no such event impacted me more than those of 9-11-2001.
The attacks of 9-11 shattered the feeling of security and stripped away the naïve idea that we in America were immune to the horrors that grip much of the rest of the world each day. Watching the towers fall caused a very uncomfortable emotion to arise within me, the tears that welled up in my eyes were a mixture of sorrow and fury. The hatred that I felt at that moment as the man within me rose to demand retribution was overwhelming. I still remember that feeling vividly today, seven years after the fact. I am not a man that is easily intimidated; but the fear that gripped me on that day has changed me forever. I rather liked being naïve, living in an untouchable world where the bad things always happened to someone else. The feeling that I controlled my destiny and outsiders could have no effect on that was a fundamental part of my existence. Those days are gone, we are vulnerable…all of us.
How should we handle this realization? Should we now cower in fear that something else will happen? Should we relinquish control of our lives to the loudmouths who shout fear into our very beings? Should we bury our heads in the sand and return to the naivety of yesterday and be unprepared for what the enemy, the real enemy Satan, has in store for us in the future?
I think David had the right approach. He writes in Psalm 18; ‘I will love you oh Lord. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength…’ Though we no longer can assume that we are safe from all outside threats (which was probably false anyway), we who are bought by the blood of a loving savior can be assured that He will remain our rock, our solid foundation, and even though the winds of trouble may blow, He will right our course and be our protector.
Jim