Where Were You?

So where were you at about 8:45 am EDST on September 11, 2001?   I was preparing for my next class.  During my prep period I turned on the television to catch up on the morning news before class.  Like everyone, I was stunned to watch the planes crash into the towers and all the horror that followed.  In that moment, all of our lives changed, forever.  This really couldn't happen in our country, could it?    But it did and life will never be the same again.  I guess there are a few events in our lives that are so startling that we will always remember just where we were when they happened.  For example, folks older than me remember Pearl Harbor.  My first such event was the announcement that the Russians had launched Sputnik - I was driving on what is now 283, delivering surgical goods.   Then there was the assassination of President Kennedy - I was teaching math when the announcement was made.  And the assassination of Martin Luther King - on my way to an elder's meeting.   The shooting of President Regan - on my way to a meeting at the college.   Man walking on the moon - in our living room at our apartment at Florida State.  Two space tragedies that cost astronauts their lives - watching TV at school, and returning from my morning walk at Park City.  And I could probably recall some others.  How about you?  So today we remember 9-11 and pray that it will never happen again.  But, unfortunately, it probably will.  I don't believe that America is owed additional favors from God.  As a country, we have turned our backs on Him, and we must be ready to bear the consequences of denying the One who has blessed this nation from its foundation.  So, there will probably be more bitter events for us to experience and remember.  We never know what a day will bring.  But we do have the assurance that God does care for us as individuals.  And today He is preparing a special home for all of His children and He has promised to return to take us there, in His time.  And that, folks, will be the most special day to remember.   Look for that day - oh that it would be today.