Nineteen years ago this morning, we all witnessed on live television the largest terrorist attack in our history on American soil.
Nineteen years ago this month, I gave my life to Christ.
The two are not unrelated…
The year was 2001. I was your typical senior in high school and was beginning to plan for college. I was planning to go, of course, where my friends were going: to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
That fateful Tuesday morning, I was sick and asleep on the couch at home. I woke up once and saw on the television smoke coming from a tower, but in my groggy and medicated-state, I thought it was footage of a steam plant or something of that nature.
It wasn’t long before I woke again, this time with my mom by my side, standing in the middle of the living room, with a shocked look on her face, as she told me what had happened. We, along with you, sat glued to our television, tears spilling onto our cheeks, as we watched it all unfold. The plane into the second tower, then the towers falling. The news of two more planes, one crashing into the Pentagon, another into a field. We all wondered if there were more planes; where was the next crash? We spent the day hanging on to every new bit of information; crying as we listened to stories from those at Ground Zero and watching strong news anchors breakdown in tears. We cheered as President Bush stood atop the rubble that evening and declared, “I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
As we, as a nation, walked through this catastrophic and horrifying event, you can say that the Lord had laid the groundwork to move in my heart. As a seventeen year old, all sense of security in my nation and excitement for the future was gone. All of the sudden, I didn’t want to go to college; I wanted to stay home. I remember sitting around the lunch table that week and discussing, what would happen if there was a war? Who from our graduating class would we lose? (And we did lose a classmate 6 years later.)
A week later, on September 19th, my little brother invited me to a youth gathering. I don’t remember really wanting to go, but I went anyway. A starting player for the Tennessee Titans football team was slated to speak, and that was a big deal in our small town.
I had never been to anything like it. It was the first time I had ever heard contemporary Christian music, not to mention it was being played by a youth band.
It was there, in that crowded sanctuary, with about three hundred youth, that I heard the Gospel, this time with not only my ears, but with my heart. The Lord brought me face-to-face with this question, “If you had been on one of those planes or towers, would you be with Me today?” I knew the answer to that as clearly as I knew anything: no.
With tears streaming down my face and the song “Breathe” by Michael W. Smith in the background, I confessed to the Lord that I needed Him. It wasn’t an eloquent prayer; rather, it was simple, “I need you and I’m desperate for you.” I had never felt the presence of the Lord as I did in that moment.
I left that night with a newfound joy and security that I’d never known. I didn’t know what my decision meant to the fullest, but I was certain that what had happened in that sanctuary had eternally changed my life!
I didn’t end up going to college with all of my friends; instead, I went to a smaller university by myself. It wasn’t my initial plan, but it was one of those first steps of trust in the Lord. It was there that the Lord used my roommates and a local church to grow me and teach more of His character.
Every year, we remember September 11th, and we should. We remember where we were when “the world stopped turning.” There were many lives tragically lost, and yet many, miraculously saved. I still cry when I watch documentaries or movies about it; I’ve even shed a few tears while writing this. It gripped each and every one of our souls. It was the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, and it stripped us forever of our naivety that we were “safe” in America.
Yet, it was through this stripping of safety that the Lord showed me where my true Refuge is: in Him.
Psalm 91:2,
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”
Nineteen years later, we find ourselves in a different type of crisis, or shall I say, crises. For the better part of 2020, we’ve been living on the edge, but not in an exciting way. Sure we joke about the “next level of Jumanji,” but really, we’re all experiencing our own levels of anxiety, wondering what’s around the next corner. We turn on the news or our social media, and immediately we are hit with the latest on the coronavirus, racial tensions, shootings, the election, etc.Those are just the things on a global and national scale, not to mention all that we have going on personally in our families and local communities. I heard it said in a sermon podcast recently that it’s “unrelenting”. I couldn’t agree more.
The Lord is slowly removing our safety nets. Health, wealth, and prosperity are being exposed for what they are: counterfeits of the abundant life in Jesus Christ (John 10:10). The facade of safety and control that we’ve built around us is being torn away. Confidence in leadership and the goodness of humanity is withering. Why?
Because we live in a sinful world that is fading away!
1st John 2:17,
“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
I fully believe that the Lord is moving underneath all of this chaos! I would never have dreamed that a tragedy like 9/11 would have brought me eternal life; and in that same vein, only God knows who He is calling to Himself through the “unrelenting” events of 2020.
I, personally, look forward to hearing the stories of those who the Lord calls to Himself during this time. It’s crazy and dark, but as John 1:15 says,
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Follow me on Instagram: @thislifecalledhis
this Life called HIS 