Tears surprise me as I watch.
The feelings buried return with the images.
I want to forget. I cannot.
The date will not release me.
9-11!
(Click here to view a YouTube video of initial news reports).
I thought I’d ignore the obvious. Plenty of others would write about the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on this day.
But the date still will not release me.
Sick feelings crawl around my insides. Memories jump around in my mind.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001—my day off.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001—the car goes in the shop for tire work.
Tuesday, September 11, 2001—Ellen returns from a funeral in Kentucky.
“School’s dismissed for obvious reasons.”
“What reasons?”
“I don’t know.”
Those are fragments of a conversation I had with Joan, the church secretary. They were the first inkling of trouble.
Later I watched the news unfold on an old television in the back room at Bindl’s, the tire center where I took my car.
I remember the unease that settled on that day. I wanted my family, my whole family, gathered under one roof. I fidgeted and worried as Ellen and her sister made their way north.
On a Friday evening, a father spoke to me with tears in his eyes after watching the events over and over throughout the week. His little girl’s special day would forever be marred with the memory of that distant disaster. Her wedding date followed 9-11—the first Saturday after America had her heart ripped out.
On this day, I recall the words of the ONE spoken through an ancient prophet. “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak…” (Ezekiel 34:16 NIV).
Another ancient one wrote about the coming of our Elder Brother. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed…” (Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV)
On this tenth anniversary of a horrific day, here are two things I know.
1) I hurt.
2) He heals.
Question: where were you when you heard the news of 9-11?
A Curious Band of Others 
I was working on a new building in Allentown, PA just south of the Lehigh Valley Airport. I remember the clear, blue sky that was suddenly quiet as can be as all air traffic was stopped. It was an eerie feeling. I couldn’t wait to get home to my family.
The family together seemed especially significant that day.
I was stuck in Tomball, Texas. I was supposed to fly home to San Diego that afternoon. It hurt to watch the tragedy unfold and be replayed again and again. Hope came in reminding myself of the One who went up the stairs in the twin towers with the 1st responders and on United Flight 93 and the pain the Pentagon experienced that day. Continued strength still comes from the peace and forgiveness He gives to all. It was a great day to remember and reflect, thanks for the insight words you captured the feeling of so many and most of all the hope the One gives us in living every day.
I read your post today and enjoyed the 3-ingredients-in-boiling-water story. I grew up a couple of hours west of Houston so I found your story of personal interest.
I was home. I had just taken positon as pulpit supply part time for 2 churches. I felt the need to hold a prayer service, but could not find any pastors, turns out they had a meeting that day. Finally found 1 and she and I put together a service, announced it on the radio, and let it together. She too was pulpit supply. Now we neither one serve where we did, but the one thing I shared then and still holds true is that God has not changed nor will He. The ONE is with us always, wherever we are and whatever changes we go through. Some things you just don’t forget. That day is one that will live on in all our memories. MJ