Seth Buckner/ Heritage Baptist Church
Jesus said in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
This coming Saturday marks 20 years since that fateful day that changed our lives so dramatically. We all remember where we were on 9-11-01. I had just graduated from seminary in Greenwood, Indiana and was on staff at the university as a teacher and athletic director. I remember the college president flagging my car down as I drove across campus to tell me the news.
We set up televisions in the common areas, and student and teacher alike glued themselves to them throughout the day. There was anger about what had happened, and fear that it could happen again. Most had never heard of the al-Qaeda until that day, but we have never forgotten that name since.
I remember the patriotism that followed that event. People gave blood that have never given blood. We all waved flags. Our common cause galvanized us together.
George W. Bush said, “Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.”
I have been to Ground Zero and prayed for the families of those that have lost their lives. It is a solemn feeling to stand at the very place where everything transpired.
As tragic as 9/11 was, it was something that brought us back to God as a nation. I do not wish for another tragedy, but I do wish that our nation would turn back to the Lord. Psalms 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…”
Twenty years have passed very rapidly. James 4:14 says, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” Are you prepared for eternity? Acts 2:21 “…whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”