On this date in 2001, al-Qaeda carried out the deadliest attack on American soil. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners intending to fly them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They succeeded in bringing down both towers and damaging the Pentagon. Best estimates put the death toll around 3,000. "Never forget" became the theme after that ... although, for the large part, we have. After all, it has been 22 years. The current batch of young people weren't around to remember it. But those who were old enough to remember can still recall the horror of that day.
Those of us who recall watched the whole thing unfold on that fateful morning. We saw live feeds of aircraft colliding with the twin towers, of people falling/leaping from the buildings, of smoke and flame and ultimate total collapse of both towers. We watched as brave emergency workers risked (and lost) their lives to get as many out as possible. (Estimates put up to 18,000 people in the twin towers at the time of the attack. Of those, less than 3,000 didn't make it out.) We listened to recordings of the valiant passengers who, apparently, fought back on United Flight 93, bringing that plane down before it could reach its intended target. The event spawned our "war on terror" and tighter airport security among other things. We read of rescuers who survived, but endured long-term health consequences. It was only a year ago that Biden (badly) ended the efforts of the troops in Afghanistan seeking to prevent another such attack.
What do we take away from this? Lots of people have answers for that. Mine is likely somewhat different. I would answer, like Joseph, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" (Gen 50:20). I would suggest, "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28). I would argue that God "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph 1:11), and what He does is always good. So, knowing God, I would maintain that 9/11 was evil and tragic and horrifying, but that God is still in control and we can still rejoice in the Lord.
7 comments:
This post is so will written from title to last paragraph. Never forget those lives lost. Never forget the heroism. Never forget the unity it brought. Never forget God is in control. Never forget God is good.
I totally agree with you David.
Dear readers, I just thought you should know that it is possible that you might receive unsolicited complaints about me because you comment on this blog. The commentor is known as feodor, but apparently his real name is Eric Hancock -- you may receive something from either name. The guy seems to hate everything about anything I write with a deep hatred that, in fact, I can't fathom. He is so venomous that he has managed to be only the 2nd person I've had to ban from commenting here because his hostility outweighs any ability to discuss things without it. I just thought you should know as I've already been informed that he's done it recently.
Feo was long ago banned from my blog and yet he posts almost weekly, claiming it's his duty to teach. But of course he doesn't get posted.
What really bothers my is that he began posting on my wife's blog the identical stuff he posts on all of the rest of us. She has NEVER had any interaction with him and her primary purpose is encouraging women. I have tried to get him to stop posting on her blog but he refuses. It's just a pain in the rear to have to delete his comments. I've told him over and over that he wastes his time because I never read his trash- I just delete them as soon as I see his names. My pleas for him to stop have been posted on both my wife's and my blogs. The man is a first class jackass.
Impressive that you've managed to pierce the wall of anonymity he hides behind. Unfortunately, I regularly get his little screeds and delete them in moderation, unread.
Your blog for Sept 13. Spot on. Will pray for this guy.
Recently I was reading a commentary on Luke 13:1-5, where Jesus mentions the people killed when a tower in Siloam fell on them. The commentary pointed out that Jesus’ response about the incident was not to explain the reasons for such tragedies (as one might hope for Him to do) but to admonish His listeners to repent. It seems like a fitting correlation with 9/11, which hopefully led many, many people to consider their own state before the Lord, REPENT, and turn to Him in faith. Then one can see one way that God used this event, which He saw fit to allow happen, for His glory and our good.
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