I think of the others.
It is a somber day for us. We remember the firefighters and their families. We remember the police officers. We remember the families. The public servants. All the families who lost loved ones.
Where were you when you heard?
I remember where we were when we heard. We were actually sitting in the front row of a pastor’s conference. Jack Hayford was speaking. A gentleman came from the back and whispered something in Jack’s ear. We could feel our heart start to race when Jack’s face looked ashen. We could hear him whisper to the man, “Go confirm that and come right back.”
Dw leaned over to me and said, “This is big.”
Within a few minutes the man came back and went right up to Jack and whispered again.
Jack said, “It appears that our nation is under attack. New York City has been hit and so has Washington, DC. We as leaders must pray.” The room burst into prayer as Jack led us. He is a great man of God.
But our thoughts raced. We were close to DC. Our kids were even closer to DC, outside Richmond, Virginia. We were about 3 hours from our kids.
As we learned that planes were missing we decided against taking the major highways home, but rather the back roads. We passed a military base that had cars lined up for miles reporting for duty. I still start to cry thinking about the panic.
As we returned home, Tyler, who was 15 at the time, said, “If they would take me, I would go today.” Brave and courageous son. Now serving this great land and fighting for freedom.
Thousands around the world serving found their deployments extended and families waited.
I cannot let today be just “another day”…..not today, not ever. Too many people lost too much. We as a nation lost brave souls who loved America.
Pray with me for our nation.
Pray for the families who grieve, yet, for their loved ones.
Pray for our service men and women who bravely serve our nation.
Only God can heal our nation.
But His word says it starts with us – you and me.
Break our hearts Lord, with the things that break yours. And comfort those who mourn. And may we never, ever forget.
Sad day:( I'm very thankful for our military, law enforcement and fire/EMT's. I remember being at work, in "Jail School". I was a deputy sheriff and about 15 of my co-workers and I had to go to class to learn how to supervise inmates. We watched the towers fall on an inmate television, in one of their pods. This time instead of us deputies being on the outside, we were with the inmates, all praying for our nation.
Thank you for this reminder. As I went about my day today, I clearly knew it was September 11 and yet with everything else going on in my life, I selfishly felt like I didn't need to remember. Thank you for the encouragment and gentle reminder to pray for our nation, those who serve us, and those who died for us.
What a beautifully written post and remembrance of one of the saddest days in our history.
I was at home, about to go out and do some farm chores, when a friend called and told me to turn on the TV. I turned it on right before the second plane came from behind the towers, banked and crashed into the second tower. I will never forget the horror of that moment as I realized that we were under attack.
I too have been praying today and also pray that we as a nation will never forget that day.
God bless Tyler for serving our country. Please thank him for me.
Blessings, Vicki
yes friend, may we never forget. Thanks for this post!
Amen. I too did a Memorial Post today. I agree that our nation needs to turn away from our sins and back to God. There is no other way. God bless you and your family. Thanks for the sacrifice you make with Tyler fighting for our great country.
I was 50 miles away from NYC that day. I was on a 2 week vacation on the east coast. I had spent the whole day in NYC Sept 9 and had plans to spend all day in NYC on Sept 12.
It was overwhelming to see the smoke in the town I was visiting. It was intense to think about the 2 days I planned to spend in NYC and how the Lord saved me from being in the city on Sept 11…..I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed for the rest of my trip. It was surreal. It was so sad to be so close to the tragedy.
Thanks for this post. I will NEVER forget.
beautifully written.
I too remember…I was holding my 92 year old mother in my arms as she passed away. The T.V. was on but I remember very little of what was happening. One year later I watched as they replayed all that had happened on 9/11. We will never forget and we will always be grateful for all those who gave their lives and pray for those who lost loved ones.
To this day, I cannot look at a plane flying in the sky, and NOT think of that …panic, that horror. I still get choked up when i remember, when i think of what those people thought as their last moments on earth were happening…
all we CAN do is pray…pray that everyone will oneday, some day soon, realize the TRUTH and that they will fight for it…fight for God's earth and His people and all that TRULY matters here..
thank you to your brave son and for the gentle reminder of where are nation was and is
I was in Hanoi Viet Nam adopting my little babe. It was Monday night there, and all the families were in the lobby crowded around the lone tv set, stunned. There were families from around the world, not just from the US. It was very surreal being so far from home.
Never forget.
Amen.
Barbara Lyman
I was at work in the bakery. I was packaging up dinner rolls for $1.79/dozen. A baker's husband called her on the department phone and when she hung up, she told us that "someone blew up the Empire State Building!" Someone found a radio and we turned it on and heard the true story. We left it on all day, even though it was a violation of policy to listen to the radio with the store open and customers inside. That day, no one reprimanded us. The customers were lingering around to listen too. I remember feeling like I was walking around in two parallel worlds–in the physical one, going about my tasks in autopilot, and the one in my mind, far far away. My husband called me to say he was going to his friend's house to watch the news. He got there as the second tower was falling. Someone on the radio said something about a blood drive and I wanted to donate, but I was only 17. That night after work I went to a prayer service at church. I remember thinking there are some things, some memories in common, that define and shape generations. I thought how for my grandparents it is "Where were you when Pearl Harbor was attacked?" and for my parents it is "Where were you when JFK was shot?" and for my generation it is 9/11/01. I'd always thought of "big" things like that as events I'd read about in history books…it was strange and unnerving to realize we were seeing one.
Two years ago, I was blessed to be in Washington on this day, and I attended the Pentagon memorial dedication. May we always, ALWAYS remember.
Sarah
Very very sad day…
We were homeschooling- Mark, Johnny and I. Hubby called and we went upstairs for a snack and to turn on the TV to see what was happening. We were in shock and disbelief. We prayed and prayed for the whole situation. It was very scary- even though it wasn't happening near us- we prayer for those we didn't know and for those we may know.
I will never for get it…
I am so sorry for what happened, Linny.
I was at home in Aussie and watched it on TV, hardly believing what was going on.
May everyone who has lost family members and friends, be drawn to Christ our Messiah and have hope in Him.
Sept 11 is my birthday. it was my first away from home. I was 18 and in college 4 hrs from home. I was getting ready for class, we were all outside the room and someone said the first plane had hit and we all thought it was a joke. We went to class, and our teacher, a Colonel, cried and let us go. I watched the second plane hit in my dorm common room with other kids and a bus load of touring vets and their wives. The room was packed.
I was in DC, working at one of the hospitals that got the Pentagon people. We (our department) heard about it first from passing a TV in a waiting room, it was shortly after the first plane hit the towers. The hospital went into a Massive Causalty Mode and locked down. All guests had to leave and none of the employees could. We went through a few panic sessions as rumors about another plane hitting the whitehouse and Capial went around. I am an audiologist, I didn't think I was important or needed for helping with the causalties. Staff came down and gave us a crash course in other things we could do such as directions and organization as people came in. We were panicked because we were not allowed to call out or get calls in- emergency-related only. ellphones were jammed. I was a commuter that took the metro train in everyday- it was shutdown as it was a potential target. I coudn't figure out how I was going to get home once I could leave. We each gave blood and then waited. There weren't as many causalties from the Pentagon as they feared so they finally allowed non-essential employees to go home that evening. The metro finally opened, but I was soooo nervous riding on it, I was afraid it was a target-DC has a large metro system under the city and would cause many causalties if hit.I've never been so afraid to work in DC.
We watched a lot of the TV coverage of that day yesterday, some of which I had never seen or heard about before.
My uncle lost a good friend- a fireman in NYC and the brother of a guy I knew in college died at the Pentagon (another brother in that family died whe the submarine had hit Yeman too). I've been to ground zero twice and passed the Pentagon many times since then, it still leaves a lump in my throat. Thanks for the post, it hit home.
Carrie T
I noticed you were at a conference with Jack Hayford! Are you Foursquare Gospel? We were blessed to sit under his in person teaching once at a leadership conference because he is president of Foursquare Gospel and at the time we were Children's Pastor's in a Foursquare Church 🙂