It is one of those moments you will never forget, for as long as you live, the day that our President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated and the day the terrorists attacked us from inside our own borders. They are both etched deep into my mind and heart to remain, for life. The day President Kennedy was shot, I was young and suddenly it felt like the whole world was crashing to a halt. I was sitting at my own desk, my first job, when a man came and said, “My wife just called, she was watching “Days of Our Life” and they made an announcement that President Kennedy has been shot!” How was it possible that the charismatic young man and his beautiful wife in the pink suit and our country, had been violated?
September 11, 2001 I was having my coffee, watching GMA with my parents. Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer were talking about a reported fire in one of the Twin Towers…they had a camera trained on it and were turned in their seats looking. Suddenly we saw, coming into view at the side of the TV screen, a low flying airplane. As I opened my mouth to say “That plane is flying too low” the same sentence was being echoed by Ms. Sawyer and then it happened…the plane sliced right into the side of that monumental building…the realization began to settle in that it was an attack! This attack on our land, in one of our beautiful cities shook our world the way the Japanese airplanes bombing Pearl Harbor in 1941 shook the people of that day. It was a different feeling than the day in November that the President was killed, that was an attack from within our walls, and this, like the December day in ’41, was an attack from without…we had been invaded! When things are quiet I imagine that you can still hear the screams of the people running and looking for shelter, trying to call home one last time. They were not able to imagine what had happened and they couldn’t get away, they were crushed, burned, melted into the ground so completely that some were never found. We must not let their death go un-noticed. We must pray for our country to be restored. 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
At least for this one-day let us unite and pray for the families of the ones that died and say God Bless America, Land that I love, Stand beside her and guide her thru the night with the light from above. From the mountains to the prairies to the ocean white with foam, God Bless America My Home Sweet Home, God Bless America My HOME SWEET HOME! (Lyrics by Irving Berlin) Pray for America to return to God, Amen!
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