9/11 reaction 20 years later

I'm not sure why, but the anniversary of 9/11/2001 is hitting me harder than it ever has. I've never been emotional about it before today.

Maybe that's because I was close to things in DC as they were happening, or because of the recent unwinding of our response in Afghanistan, or because I'm thinking about things from that day I had never heard before, or because there are new pressures on our freedoms two decades later.

Last night, ABC World News Tonight included someone mentioning that the Flight 93 passengers intentionally timed their response to make sure their aircraft was over a rural area. That says so much about what they intended to do and what knew might happen. ABC News also played the voicemail of Flight Attendant CeeCee Ross Lyles whose voice eventually breaks when she talks about how she hopes she gets to see her three children again.

I know what it's like to have lost a parent, and even if the Lord provides another, and even if good things happen later that never could have happened had the first tragedy not occurred, it's still a felt loss for years, as the flight attendant's children in their 30s now, well know.

There's a gap between how we think things should be and how they go in difficult times. We yearn for that gap to be closed, sometimes with heartache. We can have hope that one day that gap will close because of the good news of Jesus Christ.

I have a brother who was born on 9/11/1985. He was in high school on that memorable day 20 years ago as was my other brother. They are both among those good things that can happen after tragedy, and as we have all trusted Jesus as our Savior, we also have hope that one day the gap will close for us. They will even be able to get to meet my first Dad, a man who our Dad now knew.

As much as we still face many difficult things today, it's important to know and remember that our savior is not military activity in another country or government action in this country or vaccines or hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin or anything that even completely cure an earthly sickness or even all earthly sickness. None of those things cure the problems of the heart and of the soul.

Jesus is the Savior. He is the one who sets us free, so even if we lose all our earthly freedoms or everyone dies of disease, nothing can take away the eternal freedom and eternal healing that anyone and everyone has available in Jesus. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,” and the same for anyone in your household. Share this good news today!