September 11, 2001

"Look Mom, it's on a Tuesday again," said my 10-year-old son Tommy. He saw that 9/11 lands on the same day this year as it did in 2001, the year it occurred. I was pregnant with him and didn't know it yet. He has learned about the incident recently, and has studied it -- studied the day and the unfolding of the atrocities that happened to us at the World Trade Center buildings, the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. He knows the gory details: the number of dead, the times the buildings were hit and then fell, the names of some of the extreme muslim perpetrators. He has a great memory for facts, this kid.

But, this is not a post about all the crimes against humanity committed on 9/11/01. I'm certain that you can find other blogs that will have that, and that's good. We should never forget what happened. This is about the fact that some of the things we have to teach our kids aren't pleasant or even neutral. They are heinous, awful, unthinkable. They are about people who devalue human life so much that they thoughtlessly took not only their own, but the lives of thousands of innocent others.

As soon as you have children, you start caring even more about things like the condition of the world, pollution, the national debt, poverty, and things like that. You begin to wonder what kind of world your child will be in and what kind of shape it will be in when you're dead and gone and your kid has to navigate it all by himself. Things start to bother you like second-hand smoke, wars that are seemingly about nothing, and insensitive, brutish people. Your instinct wants to protect your child from the noise, the violence, the dark side of life. You can, for the most part, when they are little.

But, there comes a time when your child will be exposed to hurt, anxiety, pain and suffering -- either his own or that of another. And you can't stop it. You can't turn it off like a TV, and you can't make it not have happened. It's life. In short, you have to at some time teach your child that the world is not a safe place. It is full of danger. Dangerous people, places, and situations. Dangerous words, beliefs, and philosophies.

One thing you can do to help your children (and yourself !) to be "ready" for disasters or even death is to prepare them to meet their God.  Are we prepared to meet our God?

I read a great quote from Todd Beamer (who was on Flight 93 with the other heroes who intercepted the plane on its way to the White House).  More important than "Let's roll," which he often said to his family, Todd was known to say that when it comes time for you to die, be sure that all you have to do is die. His wife, Lisa, author of the book, Let's Roll, about 9/11 and Todd, said that he meant that we should all be ready to meet our Saviour in heaven.

Don't be trying to get a right relationship with God when you are losing your earthly life. You might not have time.You might not have the presence of mind to do it. Even worse, you might not know how!

Remember, the Bible is clear about the fact that the only thing necessary to have a right relationship with our Creator/Saviour is to have faith. We have to believe that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator between God and man and that He came to Earth to die in our place for our sins, so that we might be made righteous in the eyes of God. He was our ransom,our sacrifice. He was the offering that satisfied the justice of God. He paid our penalty. It is that simple. Do we believe what is stated in the Bible? Do we believe what God says about our need of a Saviour and being a sinner by nature and by choice? If we do, and we trust that God's Son, Jesus Christ paid for us to have a right standing with Him, we will be eternally saved. A most beautiful word when one is lost: SAVED. It is a free gift, this wonderful salvation provided by Almighty God for his enemies. Thank Him. Believe Him and trust Him. He is good.


I highly recommend that you take the few hours to read Let's Roll, in honor of those who died on 9/11/01. Then email or write to Lisa Beamer (or one of the others mentioned) and thank her for the sacrifice her husband made for our country. If you can handle the truth, watch the movie made about Todd and his fellow passengers called FLIGHT 93. Watch as many movies and documentaries as you can emotionally handle about the people we lost on that awful and historic day. I will guarantee that you will have a greater appreciation for the courage these and other heroes demonstrated on that day and the days to follow, and a deeper understanding about the day that changed the world forever.

I guarantee you that almost no one who died that day (except the perpetrators) knew that was their last day on earth. The most important thing is to be ready.  Are you ready?