Remembering 911

I graduated high school in May of 2001 and by September I was living away from home. I would return home on weekends to take care of my siblings and get them off to school on Monday while my parents would be away working. I was 19 years old.

My routine was to get up each Monday, wakeup my siblings and begin getting ready for the day, all the while having the TV on in the background. I turned on the TV and that is when I got my first sight of what happened that day.

As a 19-year-old I didn’t know how to respond. When I was 12, the Oklahoma bombings happened, but I was took young to understand. This was the first time I had been faced with global tragedy. Despite not understanding how to grieve and was was appropriate, I knew that life would no longer be the same.

Now, twelve years later, I have a better grasp on what that day meant. To me September 11, 2001 was a sounding call to a world that we desperately needs Jesus. Though the earthly tragedy involved the loss of so much innocent life, the greater tragedy is how many of those who died not knowing Christ.

Evil is present and the enemy is relentless. So in turn, we too, must be relentless. As a believer, 911 now marks the day that I understood the hope that Jesus offers and the need for all on earth to hear his saving Gospel.

I will never forget September 11, 2001.