9.11

I can't believe it's been ten years since September 11th. I was only in 6th grade when it happened. I can remember my teacher telling us about it, but I actually remember the hour after that better.  They sent the students out for an early recess, probably so that all the teachers could find out what was happening and figure out what to do.  I walked a balance beam on the playground with some of my friends, talking about what little we knew, but the enormity of the situation didn't really click with me. I hadn't seen pictures. I had heard very little about the Trade Centers themselves and had never seen them so I didn't fully comprehend the situation.  It wasn't until later that day, when I watched footage on TV and my parents explained it to me, that a bigger piece of the picture sunk in. 

Now, ten years later, I wonder what the lives of those most closely affected look like now.  Newborns are now in 5th grade.  Teens are adults.  Widows and widowers are ten years alone.  How different their lives must be than what they imagined they would be before that day occurred.

There was a memorial video played at church. 

I cried.

Not because I was personally affected by 9.11, but because I know that there are people who were affected by 9.11 that don't stand where I do.  I can ask God "Why?", sure.  But I know that I can also rest upon a completely good and sovereign God who is in control of all things, even when what we call evil happens.  After all, didn't God use the Cross, a horrific evil indeed, to crush sin and death forever? 

I know there are people who can only look at 9.11, look at their lives now, and ask "why?" without getting any sort of satisfactory answer.  And this breaks my heart.  

They are on my mind, as the tenth anniversary of that day passes.  I pray that the memory of it will drive them not from God, but to God, the only one who can supply them with the comfort and hope that they need. 

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though the mountains tremble at it's swelling. Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." [Psalm 46:1-3 and 10]