What I Miss About 9/12

None of us would ever wish anything bad to happen, even though great good may be seen in the aftermath of the evil. I get the privilege of writing to you on the anniversary of 9/11, arguably one of the darkest days in the history of our country. All of us were changed on that day. Some of us lost loved ones. Almost all of us knew someone who knew someone who lost someone dear to them. In the aftermath, we have endured 10 years of war.

In between 9/11 and the years of war was 9/12, one of the highlights in all of our nation’s history. It was a day when people poured forth from their homes to respond to the needs of their fellow citizens. Thousands upon thousands stood for hours to donate blood. Tons of food and clothing were taken in drives across the country. Hundreds marched immediately to their local recruiter’s office, some even lying about their age, to enlist in the defense of our country and see those who had planned such an evil upon our country brought to justice.

The best of all was the outpouring of people seeking meaning and purpose. Who could have done such a thing, and why? If there is a God up in heaven, and if He is God of the entire universe, what was He doing on that awful morning? Those are questions we will never fully understand. We have probably come to our own personal answers and that is the best we can do.

The important thing was that we gathered to the one place where we might possibly find meaning, purpose, and answers – the Church. In ten years since, we have gotten comfortable again. We have stopped looking for answers. We have stopped praying for country and countrymen, or at least the intensity of our prayers has greatly diminished. We have gone back to being Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Tea Partiers, or whatever else we may claim to be instead of being brothers and sisters. Our fellow countrymen in need have again become an inconvenience. Church is something that takes up our Sunday mornings. I would never want to go through another 9/11, but I sure do miss the positive aspects of 9/12.

Yet, God is still there. He still waits for your questions even if He doesn’t always give the answer you want in the detail for which you were looking. He wants to heal your hurts and pains. He has never left you, and never will. He has been faithful in His waiting for you. The question is, “What have you and I done with our relationship with Him over the same time?”

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:5-7 NIV)

Pastor Craig