Remembering 9/11

As we remember the tragic events of 9/11 may God help us to remember the real source of protection, the real source of peace and the real answer to evil.

Everything changed on the morning of September 11, 2001. The United States experienced a terrorist attack that took the lives of approximately 3000 people. Four airplanes were hijacked by a highly organized group of Al Qaeda terrorists. Two crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, one into the Pentagon and the fourth into a field in Pennsylvania.

On that Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, my wife and I sat stunned before the TV, watching the Today show with Katie Kouric and Matt Lauer. We were planning to fly that very day from Florida back to our home in Houston, but all flights were cancelled—for the first time in our history. It was difficult to know exactly what had happened. Eventually, the truth became clear: this was no random attack. It was a coordinated assault on our nation.

One article in the Houston Chronicle in September of 2001 grabbed my attention. The headline of the article asked a rhetorical question—"How do you know when things are back to normal after 9/11?" The answer—when the churches are once again empty. You see, right after 9/11 the churches were packed. For all of six weeks, there was a substantial increase in church attendance around the country—and then, the crisis was past, and God was no longer important.

It seems that man wants to ignore God except in the midst of tragedy. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote about such a time.

"No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity... Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way shall not know peace" (Isaiah 59:4, 7-8).

Man, without God, will make "crooked paths." Cultures will clash and evil will triumph. People will suffer and lives will be destroyed. And unless humanity has a sincere change of heart, these tragedies will continue—again and again and again.

Yes, some things changed forever after 9/11 but one thing returned to normal in a matter of days. God is still an afterthought when it comes to the safety of our country and peace is more elusive today than it has ever been in the history of our planet. As we remember the tragic events of 9/11 may God help us to remember the real source of protection, the real source of peace and the real answer to evil.