We remember. We will never forget.
We have said those words for 11 years now.
I was in my college apartment sleeping under my Urban Outfitters bedspread. My phone rang. The Fly asked me if I had seen the news. I didn't have class until 11...of course, I hadn't seen the news. Groggy from late nights, papers, friends, work, fun, college-life, I laid my head back down.
I couldn't fall back asleep. I didn't understand the depravity that had occurred. I had hardly understood the words coming out of the phone. I got up and walked into the other room to turn on the TV.
Then I saw...over and over as they replayed what had happened.
Shock and disbelief. Then the fear. Where was my dad? Flying from coast to coast and home on the weekends, this was his life.
Relief rushed through me as I heard his voice. He had been at LAX when it happened. He was coming home.
He was coming home.
2,996 others did not go home that day.
Today we remember them. With flags and banners, names read aloud, memories and stories told of those who suffered the consequences of another's evil plot.
As a nation we wonder. We cry. We form strong opinions. We argue. We plan. We protect. We do whatever we can to cope with the reality that evil and wickedness are very real.
We ask questions. We blame God. We defend God.
We don't want to admit it but we are still afraid. We fear what might happen. What's next?
These things well up in us today. And, as we remember the past, we remember that our future is ahead of us. Our near future holds some critical moments that will determine the direction of our country in the next 4 years. Today our remembering not only brings the emotions of the past but it also causes the emotions surrounding the next 56 days.
This week's rhetoric will be charged with emotion of the whys and why-nots and how-to's and how-not-to's of our decision making.
So what do we do?
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
It's been impressed on my heart to pray the Psalms for both presidential candidates, the American people, and the election itself.
Today was the 11th day I've done this. I opened my Bible to Psalm 11. I read this:
Vs 6 and 7,
Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.
For the Lord is righteous.
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.
Fire and Brimstone have a bad rap, rightfully so. But as I read this today I felt a unity with my fellow Americans, those that think the same and those that think differently.
Wherever our opinions place us in the war of politics, today we can come together and remember. Remember that our God does not look at what happened 11 years ago and sit passively by. He too hates wickedness and evil. His plan is for redemption.
As you remember today, I humbly ask you, set down your opinions, set down your agendas and if you are the praying type, humble yourself before God. Ask him to direct your prayers. And pray.
Pray for those that are still with us today, hurting from those evil actions of others.
Pray for your fellow Americans; pray they experience peace today.
Pray for President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden. Ask God to give them wisdom and direction.
Pray for Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney and Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan. Ask God to give them wisdom and direction.
A final note...
As I was researching a few facts for this post I came upon this headline...
Mitt Romney, Barack Obama campaigns avoid negative politics on 9/11 anniversary
Proud to be an American.
God Bless America.
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