Remembering

I'll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001.

I was working on putting together the nose of a Cessna Citation Excel jet, standing on the south side of the jig when I heard over my headphones that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was "great, another Cessna hits a building & we're gonna get blamed for it." (There had been several stories in the news in the preceding months about Cessnas crashing & I assumed that this was another little turbo-prop.) When I heard there was another crash and they said the planes were Boeings, I was floored. I listened to the news all day until I was numb from the shock and horror. When I got home and finally saw the pictures of the devastation... there are no words to describe how I felt. Even now, my chest is tightening up and the only prayer that I can compose is "Oh, God..."

I didn't lose anyone I knew in the terror attacks that day, but it has still had an impact on my life. I pay more attention to what is going on outside of my own little world. I am more aware of our brave military men & women. I tried to join the military so I could go kick some terrorist butt, but they wouldn't let me in.

And now after that Perspectives class last spring, I have a different, uh... perspective. There is more of an urgency to my spiritual life especially as I feel called to go and do something. We need Biblically-grounded missionaries over in the Middle-East who stand firm on both grace and truth to reach those radical Muslims. The love, grace and truth of Christ is the only thing that could cause such a radical shift in their worldview that the terrorism would stop. Unfortunately, with the end times coming closer, that is very, very unlikely to happen. Still, with every one that is reached, shown the Truth... that is one less terrorist who is killing innocents and, ultimately, more glory to God.

I know some people are going to say that I'm crazy, a nutcase. I've never claimed to be otherwise. ;D Yes, there is a lot of danger and risk involved. But "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." Luke 17:33.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this evolve into what it did, but that's what came out so, yeah...