This week, we remember and pay tribute to the anniversary of 9/11. It is hard to believe that twenty-three years have passed since that fateful morning when two of the largest buildings in the world were collapsed by cowards. It is easy to focus on the sadness and brokenness of that day, but I also want to remember the heroes that ran into the scary unknown with holy boldness. I want to remember the ways that our neighborhoods, cities, communities, and country came together to seek God for healing, help, and hope. I want to remember the courage, kindness, patriotism, and faith that was on full display in that season in our country and world.
There are times in every life when tragedy strikes and times when the unknown and unclear can feel suffocating. It is precisely in these times that we are called to remember the faithfulness of God.
Over the Spring Break after 9/11, I was privileged to lead 50 of the sharpest high school juniors and seniors from the around the state of Alabama on a trip to New York City and Washington, D.C.. While in those places, we met ambassadors from numerous nations at the UN in New York City, as well as Senators and Congressmen and women from numerous states in Washington, D.C.. It was a powerful trip, but no moment was more powerful than when we walked around the fence that shrouded ground zero. The buildings around the perimeter were draped in black fabric to protect from falling debris, but it looked as the entire area was sitting in mourning for the tragedy. The fence too was largely covered in black fabric to keep the debris from ground zero from escaping through the holes into the surrounding streets while the men and women worked to dig down to the foundations.
The students and I walked all the way around ground zero, and I struggled to find the courage to look in on this tragic scene where so many people lost their lives. I felt deep grief and pain as we silently walked around the site, looking at the cards, flowers, teddy bears, and notes left by friends and family for their loved ones who would not be returning home. With each step I felt like we were walking deeper and deeper into despair. Then God did a miracle in the midst of our mourning.
There was an opening in the black fabric around the fence that allowed me to see one pile of rubble that surrounded a steel beam that had broken off on either side and was attached to an upright steel beam that defiantly stood in the midst of the rubble. There it was: the Cross of Christ in the midst of the crisis of our world. With everything else being torn down I was reminded that nothing can overcome the Cross of Christ. Even when everything else falls away the Cross of Christ will stand triumphant eternally.
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