The previous generation would say they will always remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when JFK was assasinated.
Our generation will say we will always remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when the World Trade Center was hit on 9/11, 2001.
It was a Tuesday, the day for the regularly scheduled Oswalt PTA meeting. I walked into the school to drop Amy off in the morning at 8:20. There were posted signs announcing the cancellation of the PTA meeing.
I caught up with the PTA president Pam Salverda as she was dropping off her son. “Why are we cancelling the meeting?” I asked. “Haven’t you watched the news?” Pam replied.
I like it quiet in the morning and do not watch TV or listen to the radio in the car until after I drop off Amy.
I thought she was exaggerating when she told me the Twin Towers collapsed completely. I immediately went home and watched in disbelieve the replays of the horrifying events.
In the following months, everyone was asking the proverbial, “what is the meaning of life?”
Now five years later, yes, we still remember. “We will never forget.”
Yet we have forgotten.
We’ve forgotten how fragile life is as we conduct business as usual. We’ve forgotten to depend on the true God of the Bible. We’ve forgotten to acknowledge Him for all that we have. We’ve forgotten to fall on our knees to continually ask Him for mercy. We’ve forgotten to live differently knowing that judgment is sure. We’ve forgotten to keep our perspective on the eternal instead of on the temporal of this world.
May our remembering of 9/11 drive us remember God. Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” How can we turn Him down?
September 11th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
time definitely helps ease the painful memories that we don’t want to remember, but it also make us forget some important and good thoughts that we should never forgetour
i think one thing i struggle sometimes is to forget how God delivers, provides, and answers my prayers. Seems like when a new trial comes, i panic, worry, and completely forget how in the last trial God has used it to teach me and strengthen my faith in Him
September 12th, 2006 at 4:58 pm
You and everyone else, Dan.
Our forefathers in the Old Testament were notorious for forgetting God’s goodness. We are told to set up a memorial, altars, artifacts to help us remember what God has done. I suppose this blog in some ways does that for me. I reread my old entries and thank God for the good times.