Margazine

How I felt in the aftermath

I used to live in New York City, so it has an extra significance for me.  I lived as close as the World Trade  Towers, with being right next to them. If you went  West on the Long Island Expressway or to the edge of Kissena Park in Flushing, Queens, you could see them.  Thank  God I had no loss. My dad was long out of there when the attacks occurred.   I was in school, unaware of what happened until about noon when parents picked up their kids.   One person said a plane has hit the World Trade Center. I pictured a light aircraft doing no worse damage than breaking one of the windows.    Nothing prepared me for commercial jets slicing through the buildings and collapsing them or the immediate aftermath.  I just cried. I was scared that night.  It did not help that my dad convinced me that there would be shootings.

Wrong Reponses

We were all looking for someone to blame. For some, it was the country. That was just tearing down the victims who had nothing to do with what happened. The perpetrators were just looking to right a perceived wrong with violence. They did not care who they targeted as longs they accomplished their goal. The opposite and equally bad reaction was attacks against Muslims. Yes, at the time the radical ideology was a concern, but people were looking for revenge. Although the immediacy may be gone, I hope we learn the lessons from it still over 20 years later. I hope political correctness does not cover up what happened, so that future generations may learn.

Lesson For Christians

 As I look back, I realized that zeal is a powerful tool for good or bad. The passion the perpetrators showed for their murderous ideology would put some Christians to shame. Don’t get me wrong, I am opposed to what they did.  I got angry every time I think about it. I am also not saying that Islamic terrorism would be eliminated if all terrorists converted to Christianity.    I am saying how much more passionate we should be about something good as the message of Christ. I realize that my passion has been blunted by things that seem more urgent or even pleasurable.

   There were many spiritual questions, such as whether God forsook us or whether he was judging us.   The age-old philosophical question of evil also came up again.  The answers to the first two questions are not as crucial as we react to them.   In his book How to Handle Adversity, Charles Stanley says that it is not as important to find the source of our trial as it how we react it More recently, my church Rock Point in Queen Creek, AZ, did a series in the book of 1 Peter.  It talked a lot about the difference between good and bad suffering and embracing the good kind. In one, the pastor used the analogy of correcting after a skid. You must lean into to get traction, and that is what we must do with godly suffering. Suffering any kind is hard, but the right one will produce its fruit in us. Whether we suffer for doing wrong, right, or for others’ wrongs, we cannot avoid it. After all, is that what God is concerned about?

A prayer

  Dear God,

On September 11, 2001, those who attacked us were passionate about an ideology that brings death and destruction. How much more passionate should we be for the good news which brings life and healing? Stir up our hearts. As Romans 12:21 says, let us not overcome evil with evil but with good.  Help us to love Muslims.  To do otherwise would be no better than those persecuting Christians in Muslim lands.   May they be able to call you father and Jesus their Savior. Give missionaries in the Muslim land a heart of wisdom, so they may share wisely.  

 Send your peace and comfort to the victims’  families.  May I get to know you or get to know you more? I still can’t figure out why this happened. It does not matter whether you allowed it happened or not but what you want us to learn.    If it was the judgment, I pray for the humility to look at ourselves with the same sober judgment that Romans 12:3 prescribes. So we often look down at the sin of the nation without looking at ourselves, is that not the type of judgment that Jesus despised. .  Even  Nehemiah prayed for    Israel sin as if they were his own even though he was righteous. How much more should be when we fall so woefully short with imperfect hearts?

        In Jesus’ name Amen

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