remembering 8 years ago

This is long...but it's my way of remembering.
I PROMISE you'll find something good if you read through.

I've always been a pretty patriotic person.
But September 11 made me love my country SO much more.

I can't believe it's been 8 years, it seems like it was just yesterday in so many ways.

I remember it so vividly.
I was driving back to my sorority house, with the radio on, early that morning.
Early enough that nothing had been confirmed yet.

The radio people had barely begun to talk about it.
They said that they were trying to get confirmation on a plane that hit the World Trade Center. Possibly a small plane that was out of control.

I sat parked in the Pi Phi parking lot, in my assigned parking spot (that I had EARNED may I add...so I didn't have to park on the street and walk a block all the time) and listened as confirmations began to come in. I walked inside that big black door on Todd Street to a sight that is not normal at all at 8:00 in the morning in a house full of 80 college girls. 30 or so girls, surrounding the TV.

I approached the living room slowly, noticing the absolute silence, and just stood at the back of the room with my eyes glued to the TV along with everyone else's.

I almost just needed to sit. There was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm sure you felt the same. All of sudden all of the girls in the room seemed to dissappear and the only thing in that room was me and that TV. Tears streamed down my face.

There's an Alan Jackson song called "Where Were You" that was written about the events on September 11. One line in that song has stuck with me ever since I first heard it...
here's just a small portion...

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home

That bolded line is the one that I felt the most. That's where I was. In a crowded room, but yet felt very alone. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to get in my car at make the 2 1/2 hour drive back home. But I didn't.

I couldn't take my eyes off the TV. One by one, other girls would walk in to find the same sight I did in the Pi Phi living room. But no one spoke.

We watched as the 2nd plane hit.

I watched until a few of us had to head to a class that was NOT being cancelled (years later, I found out that my future husband was sitting in this same class!) It was so hard to sit there and listen to anything being said. I think later that day, classes were cancelled.

So far, I have not only lived to see the tragic events of September 11, 2001...but also the Columbine massacre in 1999 (I was a junior in HS), the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (I was in 7th grade) By the way, did you know that those 2 events happend on April 19 and April 20...WEIRD! These, I'm sure are just to name a few.

I've only been living for 28 years (well, next Thursday will be 28). And I have seen some pretty scary and painful things. It makes me wonder what my children may see. I could sit and worry about this all day. It's so scary. Thank goodness God's Word provides hope that we cannot find anywhere else.

So today, in my quiet time, I searched and found some verses. Some verses that I find peace in, that allows me to rest assured that my children will be perfectly fine in this horrible, sinful world, no matter WHAT they see and experience...as long as Christ is in their heart. I have to let go of this. I will not be with them always. I won't even be with them while they are at school, and that will be here before I know it. So I have to put my trust in the one person who WILL be with them, and will never leave them, and who loves them and cares for them.

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Psalm 27:4-5
One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

Romans 8:28-39
This is GOOD...look it up for yourself, it's a bit long to include here.

But how wonderful to know that as a child of God, this world is not our home anyway...we are just passing through....what hope we have that we will spend eternity with our Savior and all of the pain and suffering of this world will be gone forever.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Isaiah 65:17
Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

2 Peter 3:13
But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

So today, I will remember those who lost their lives in and around those towers, at the pentagon, and in the plane that crashed in the field.
I will remember the heroes who gave their lives.
I will think and pray for all the familes who lost a child, a spouse, or a parent.
I will pray for our president and our nation.

(being the daughter of a fireman, this photo has always touched me in such a special way)

But I will also thank God for his promises that all these things will pass away, and those who choose to live for God, will live for eternity with the King.

(I love how these beams of light or pointing UP)