An Anniversary We Need to Remember

What were you doing eight years ago this Friday? It is one of those anniversary dates that we should never forget. I remember it was one of those bright beautiful early fall mornings. I had driven to work, fighting the traffic as I usually had done. I had no sooner gotten to my desk than the phone rang. It was Marlys telling me about the plane hitting one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. At that time no one knew what type of plane it was. I turned on my little radio to one of the local stations. Soon the reporter described another plane hitting the second Tower, followed by a plane hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC. A fourth report indicated that a plane had crashed into a farm field in Pennsylvania. Soon Americans stopped what they were doing and huddled in disbelief around television sets. Feelings of both horror and anger began to well up inside as we watched the collapse of those towers that represented the American spirit. How could this have happened on American soil? Who would do something like that?

Fear gripped our lives. I must admit it was with an uneasy spirit that I climbed onto that first airplane following 9-11. There was a hesitancy even to enter a local shopping mall; especially here in Minnesota there was a great concern for the Mega Mall. Attendance dropped at sports stadiums as people feared an attack there. We looked over our shoulders and all the time wondered where the next attack would come from. Yes, September 11, 2001, forever changed our world.

It has now been eight years. What have we learned about ourselves as a nation during those eight years? Has our country changed any since that fateful day? Let's see. For a brief moment there was a great turning to God as we cowered in fear. But soon we recognized that our military and our security systems could keep us safe. I am reminded of those words of David found in Psalm 20:7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses..." In other words, many put their confidence in military strategies and hardware. Yet David continues in that same verse: "...but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." This is where we have failed as Americans. We have not put our trust fully in God. Today, our trust is in government with its bailouts and "cash for clunkers" programs. Even as churches our energies are put into programs. For a brief moment after 9-11 we needed God, but not any more.

Immediately after 9-11 Americans had a resolve to fight diligently against those who had perpetrated the greatest criminal act upon American soil. There was a spirit unlike any seen since the days of World War II. There was that spirit represented by the phrase "Don't tread on me!" Yet what is happening today? Terrorists are being released from captivity and returned to countries where they take up the battle against us once more. The present Administration is pursuing legal indictments against the men and women who interrogated those we had captured. "Don't tread on me" has now been replaced with "Go head, kick me!" What has happened?

Is America safer today than before 9-11? I believe we are, but thanks is given only to our military leaders who have resolutely led the fight against those terrorist regimes that gave haven to our enemies. As we near another anniversary of this momentous event, I want to thank those men and women who have served us so well in the hostile climes of Iraq and Afghanistan. Theirs has not been an easy mission. Not only have they had to battle the elements of a different type of enemy, they have often had to battle the apathetic spirit represented back home. Yet they have been faithful. And we are safe.

Friday, September 11, 2009, will come and go and for most of us there will be hardly a thought about what happened eight years ago. Shame on us! It is a day that should cause us to fall on our faces before a living and holy God and confess our need for Him and our dependence upon Him. Instead it will be just another ordinary day. I wonder what it is going to take for God to get our attention once again.