“Remembering 9/11”

Like many people, I remember exactly where I was when the twin towers of New York were attacked. Pam and I watched in horror as the first building collapsed, and then the other. I was a youth pastor in San Antonio, Texas at the time, and I rememb

er having candlelight prayer services as the church and the community sought God during this troubling time in our nation’s history. It was the closest thing to a national turning to God that I have seen in my lifetime. For many weeks and months, church attendance was high throughout the country, and there was an awareness I had not seen nationally before. People seemed to recognize that we truly needed God and that what we were facing was bigger than what we could handle on our own.

It now has been 25 years since 9/11. One third, or about 100 million people living in the United States today were not even born yet on September 9, 2001, including my own grandchildren. The Covid Pandemic is looked at as their 9/11 in a way. My parents’ generation lived during WW2 and remembered Pearl Harbor as my generation remember 9/11. The Charlie Kirk assassination had a similar effect on many.

What do I want my grandkids and the rest of the 100 million to know about 9/11? Perhaps the most important lesson is one that is common to every time of national crisis: we need God. In times of peace and prosperity we begin to think the opposite, that somehow God needs us. Acts 17:24 says, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” It also says we should seek God, for he is not far from us. Sadly, the spiritual movement after 9/11 was short-lived. We say, “Remember 9/11”, but it seems we so quickly forgot. My advice to this generation is: don’t wait for a crisis. Every day think about the fact that “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46:11) Remember, He doesn’t need us, but He loves us and wants us to know Him!

Pastor Phil Newby