Articles
Remembering 911, Pray For Our Nation
My mom used to say often, “It never ceases to amaze me...”. She passed away a few months before 9-11. Surely she would have said that on that dreadful day. I’m confident that she would have been incapable, as we all were on 9-11, of making any sense of those events, while watching in total disbelief that such a thing could be happening in America. I, like so many, recall certain events of that day well, especially the cold chills of reality and total shock as I witnessed the first tower collapse.
We who live in a predominately conservative small city in a predominately conservative area of Texas become aware often of things that never cease to amaze us, often times bad things, like the events just 100 miles away only a few days ago in Odessa. Just open up your web browser and surf the headlines. What people say, believe and do, never ceases to amaze us. If you are like me, you wonder how people can be that way at all. I don’t get it, I don’t understand, and I can’t reason as to why? I realize I only know what my life’s experiences have taught me, and what I read in God’s word. I haven't been many places or experienced many atrocities, so no, I can't claim I fully understand everything. I fully believe so much of what we see is rebellion of Godly principles, whether the people involved know that or not. So I firmly believe a true understanding and an educated faith in God would stop what we read in the news.
I know not everybody agrees with that, some believe everyone is free to believe and act as they choose to, regardless of the impact or consequences. But my prayer is that God turns the face of this nation, and our world, back to Him. We don’t need terrorists, foreign or domestic, nor mass shooters, nor bombers, nor people using vehicles to ram innocent crowds, nor people plotting criminal activity. We don’t need the sexual offenders, nor human traffickers, nor evil politicians, nor drug runners, nor corrupt dictators. These are just a few of the things that today’s headlines mentioned. Those who participate in such things ‘never cease to amaze me!’
Hopefully I’ll die saying “it never ceases to amaze me...”, because I hope sinful, immoral, violent behavior never becomes something I don’t react to with disbelief and disapproval. If it becomes so common place that it doesn't trigger that response from me, then I'll be in a world I don't want to live in. In the days of uncertainty after 9-11, we didn't know what world we would be living in, and perhaps God altered what otherwise would have happened because our nation got on its knees and begged for help. That, like always, was short lived, and I pray it doesn't take another such event to bring America to its knees again. I pray people will just choose to be good, and ask God to help them and us all.
On this anniversary of 9-11, remember those who died that day, those who survived, those who have since died because of what they were exposed to, the first responders who were there and the changed lives of our nation. That day, outsiders came here and carried out that atrocity, yet much of what we read about almost every day now comes from our own back yard. Satan is behind it all, he has an army under his control. What we must remember is that our Jesus has already beat him. That war has already been won, we just can't reap the rewards for a little while longer.
We have the greatest power in the universe at our beckoned call. We have God Almighty! Do we ask Him to make things better? Do we consistently ask Him? Do we persistently ask Him? Are we begging? If not, why? Do we think things will get any better without Him? Our world thinks so, but how’s that going for them?
Dedicated today to those innocent people, mostly Americans, who died on 9-11-01
World Trade Center:
343 Firefighters
60 Police Officers (& port authority officers)
8 Paramedics
1 Fire Marshal
2194 Civilians & Employees
Pentagon:
125 Civilians and Military Personnel
Airplanes:
246 People
