I was going to write concerning another topic until I typed in the date of today’s newsletter offering….9/11. Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing on that date, back in 2001. I was Minister of Youth at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church at the time and our church secretary was our own, Christa Harmon’s mother, Peggie Williamson. She brought a small TV from her home and was watching it. This was quite unusual for her because Peggie was not a person to do something like that. Christa’s momma was serious about her work and she didn’t watch TV or read novels when work got slim. She pressed me to work more so she would have something to do! Peggie greeted me with these words as I entered her office, “ Did you see the plane hit the World Trade Center?” As soon as these words left her mouth, a second plane struck the surviving tower. We tried to work that day as we heard of further catastrophies at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. I was visiting in a long term care facility when the towers finally tumbled. It was a day none of us will ever forget.
People quickly began to speculate and seek answers as to why. Why was this atrocity visited upon the good people of the USA? Some said it was the judgement of God, while others went to the opposite extreme and said evil had won. I chose to believe then as I do now – sinful, evil people will have their victories, but God prevails. Which is a very easy response for one who did not have a relative or a child in the tower wreckage. I will have to admit, like many, I was out for blood for a couple of days, thinking bombs and retaliatory deaths were the answer. It took me awhile before I could focus on anything but revenge and acknowledge that God would have the last say.
We coexist in a world that includes its fair share of evil and there are no easy answers for tragedies like 9/11. But this I know… God will be victorious. It looked like the end as Jesus was crucified on a cross between two crooks. Evil had won, many people thought, But we all know He rose from the dead and the ultimate victory belonged to God. The same God will prevail over evil today…in His time.
Andy O.
(704-300- 0062)