Reflections on 9/11

6 years today ago I was out for a run (today--I went out for a bike ride). At that time I normally tuned into the Today Show before and after my run but for some reason did not that day. As I was doing my post-run stretch Jan mentioned the news about the Twin Towers. From that moment on, like the rest of the world, I was glued to the TV screen watching the horrors of the terrorist attack. (One of our more immediate concerns was the safety of our daughter who was in Sienna, Italy at the time.)

Tuesdays were staff days at Community Church of Joy but I figured everyone would be running late that day due to the news. Turns out, I was the only one late. I walked into the staff meeting as it was just about to begin and everyone was already there, in a circle, ready to pray for our country.

After that it was a flurry of activity trying to pull together a prayer service for the next evening. We invited the Mayors of Glendale and Peoria to join us, which they graciously did.

On the following weekend Pastor Walt Kallestad, Paul Sorensen, and I shared the message. We tried to help process what 9/11 meant in terms of faith (to capacity crowds like most other churches that weekend). Two things we wanted to say clearly: 1) God did not cause 9/11 regardless of what the terrorists said and regardless of what at least one Christian leader said. Jesus came to give life, not death. 9/11 was a result of human-beings polluted and possessed by evil. 2) God, as God always does, brings life after death. What evil meant for harm, God can use for his good purposes. 6 years later the evil of 9/11 continues to try to spread death and God continues to transform that death into life.

There has been a lot of pain and upheaval as a result of 9/11, to say the least and obvious. But God will have the final word, and that word will be life.