I remember exactly where I was. Sitting against a wall in a dentist’s waiting room. I was 10 years old and was listening to Michael W. Smith’s Freedom CD, specifically “The Giving.” I looked up at the TV and saw a jet fly into a tall building. We never watched the news in our house, so I had no idea how big this was. The two ladies sitting across the room were laughing in disbelief. I turned my eyes away from the TV and continued working on my project.
I remember getting into our blue Grand Voyager minivan to go home and my mom crying profusely. I didn’t understand. Apparently there was a TV in the dentist’s room to take the patent’s mind off the pain of a root canal. My mom explained that this probably meant that we would go to war. I started to cry. I also started to sing a song to try to calm us both down.
I remember going to church that night for a last minute prayer meeting... for our country. I met my friend in the back room while the adults prayed and we chatted about the cities we were born in. I still hadn’t grasped what had happened that day. We did talk, though, about what it would have been like running from a fallen building. My friend said he thought it would be fun. I guess he hadn’t grasped it either.
Exactly one year later, I remember standing in a crowded hospital hallway. There were women in rollaway beds with curtains around them in full labor. My mom was fortunate enough to have a room of her own. My sister was one of dozens of children born September 11, 2002. I couldn’t help but think there were so many because of the thousands of lives that were lost on that day the year before. We had a little phrase... “9/11 went from being a tragic day to a joyous day for the Coleman family.” When my dad told the nurse that her name was Glory, she replied “well, that’s patriotic!”
After that, whenever I would look at the clock and it would be 9:11 I would pray. I would pray for those suffering from the attack. I would pray for my sister. I would pray for the other children born on 9/11. They had no choice in the fact that their birthday would forever be tied to a national disaster. My sister is 8 years old and still doesn’t know what happened a year before her birthday. And with good reason.
I remember visiting ground zero in May of 2003. It was moving. I remember wearing red, white, and blue with pride. I remember how our nation was shaken enough to turn back to our Creator. Why was that? Why was it suddenly back to In God We Trust? Why was God supposed to Bless America? Why is it not that way anymore?
I remember, namely, one other thing. I remember praying that God would save Osama Bin Laden. Many times. And now, May 1, 2011, I can’t help but think. Yes, Bin Laden is probably experiencing the unquenchable fires of Hell right now. Yes, it’s normal to think that damnation is only what he deserved. But I also can’t help but think that that’s only what I deserved, too. I can't forget that Osama had a soul that was just as worth saving as mine.
I suppose if I have to have a concluding thought... this is yet another time to rejoice in the salvation we have in Jesus Christ.
Read it slowly, don’t miss the mercy.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” - Ephesians 2:1-10
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