The Day the World Changed
The US and the world remembered the 17th Anniversary of 9/11 last week.
The World Trade Centre towers dominated the horizon in New York for many years. Many people are still finding it hard to realize that they are gone. But so much more than buildings collapsed that awful day when airliners became missiles and America itself became the battlefield. Thousands of lives came crashing down that day too. The airline passengers, the World Trade and Pentagon workers, the rescuers who died trying to rescue - so many, gone in one awful, violent moment.
And the countless loved ones, in some cases not knowing what happened to those they love, in all cases agonizing over the horrific circumstances of their death ... and the lifelong scars on those heroic rescuers, recovery workers, and medical personnel who will always be haunted with the memories of what they have seen.
But the carnage and shock of September 11, 2001, have touched not only every American, but many throughout the world. Even today, we find it hard not to watch the towering infernos, and are still repeatedly horrified by the unfolding details of unthinkable destruction in places we thought were untouchable. Like the TV commentators, we try to put our feelings in words, but no words can really say it.
I remember vividly watching the first attack on the World Trade Centre. I had been alerted about what was happening by a phone call, and when I switched on the TV, I thought that here was a typical Yankee horror show! If only that had been true!
However as the reality of what was before me sank in, all I could really think of was - "How vulnerable we have become! Nothing, and no one is safe anywhere, anymore!" That's the feeling many people expressed that day and since. The very symbols of the US's financial and military security were attacked.
We watched everyday people like us, doing things we do - passengers on a jetliner, folks at their jobs - suddenly wiped out en masse. We see the lists of fatalities - including Chief Operating Officers, high-profile lawyers and entertainment executives - and we realize that, like those who died on the Titanic, success and position mean nothing when death strikes suddenly.
Not only children, but adults are still trying to understand what happened that day, and how, and if, it all makes sense. We feel vulnerable. It's as if some of our sense of personal security and safety came crashing down with those majestic towers. Huge newspaper headlines screamed, "Forever changed" - and right they were. While the events have been horrific, the questions that have been asked since, have certainly shown that things have changed forever - and maybe even for the better.
Questions like, "What are the things that really matter and the things that really don't - and which ones have I been living for?" ... "What have I got that will really last - no matter what tragedy comes crashing into my life?" ... "Am I ready for eternity, no matter how suddenly my time comes?"
We have seen how suddenly our towers can come crashing down, how quickly what we've built and who we've loved, can all be gone. And our hearts are hungry for something we can anchor to ... for something to sustain us when the bad news is more than we can bear ... for something that will make us really safe.
When President Bush addressed the nation following this "day of infamy", he alluded to the one Source of comfort and hope in moments like these. He quoted from that treasured 23rd Psalm - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." (Psalm 23:4) Life has many "vulnerable" moments - when you lose your job, when you lose someone you love, when relationships collapse, when the medical report is unsettling, when the subject results were not what you expected.
But that "valley of the shadow of death" - that is, by far, life's most vulnerable moment. Yet the Bible holds out to you a security that can keep you safe even in that valley - and no matter what else comes crashing down in your life. That security is a Relationship, a Person - "You are with me, Lord." All our lives we have been hungry for one "unloseable" love. And there is one - but only one! It's the love of the One who made you ... the One whom you will meet in person on the other side of your last heartbeat ... the One whose love caused Him to literally lay down His life for you. "God sent His Son to die for our sins ... He sent His only begotten Son that we might live through Him." (I John 4:9, 10)
Jesus liked to use the word "everlasting" to describe the kind of life He wants to give you. We have been reminded so powerfully that nothing earth has, is everlasting. That's the time your heart should be turning to the only One who is - so you can know that you have a love you can never lose ... a security that can never be shaken ... and that you're ready for eternity, whenever it comes.
No religion can offer that kind of security or everlasting life, it is only found with a relationship with Jesus Christ. You're vulnerable no more when you run to the safest place in all the world - "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe" (Proverbs 18:10). Yes 9/11, that day the world changed, but has Christ changed you, so that you are safe for all eternity? Grace and peace....