One Nation Under God

Where were you on this day 10 years ago?  Can you remember what you were doing?  Who you were with?  If you were old enough to remember anything, I'm guessing you know.

I was driving to work with Mike.  I was working as a DCE at a church in Minnetonka.  That morning was my first meeting with the circuit pastors.  I can honestly say I don't really remember any of the other circuit pastor meetings I went to in the year I worked there.  I don't even remember much about that first meeting.  Except for the beginning.

As Mike drove, I heard the news talking about the first plane flying into the tower.  We turned the radio up, but I really didn't think much, other than, "that's too bad."  I had no idea how big those buildings were, how many people spent their days there, how many children were in day care there.  Then we heard that a second plane crashed into the second tower, and we turned the radio up louder.

The pastors were all watching the TV when I got to the church, and we watched prayerfully together as the towers fell.  The rest of the day is a blur to me.  I know that I organized a prayer service with our pastor, made phone calls to church members, made posters about the prayer service and put them out on the road to direct people to the service.

Ten years ago today, we didn't have any children yet.  We actually weren't even thinking about having children yet.  But I vividly remember thinking that night at home, as we were glued to the television, that my children would grow up knowing only a world after the attacks on 9/11.  And now, here we are, 10 years later.  Our oldest child is 8, and I have no idea where to begin to teach her about what happened.  We had the kids leave church today as a missionary spoke of his experiences of living in a largely Muslim area when the attacks happened.  We had them leave, because we don't know where to begin to teach them about this significant event.

So what will I be doing tonight?  I'll be scouring the Internet for useful lessons to use during our school day tomorrow, to begin to teach our children about the tragedy that happened 10 years ago today, and the faith that was shown through the faithful men and women of our country in the minutes, hours, days, and months to follow.

I am often disheartened by our country, and where I see it going.  There are times, especially when I've been out of the country, that I've actually been embarrassed to say that I'm from the US.  (Don't get me wrong, I love living here.  We are blessed.  But the materialism, greediness, overindulgence and self-centeredness of our society are the things that bring out those emotions in me.)  But tonight, I praise our Lord God that we live in a nation that gives us the freedom to worship our loving Father, and the freedom to proclaim the atoning sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross.