I was 13 years old.
We woke up to my mother frantically tuning the radio dial in our 26ft camping trailer we'd lived in for the past couple months. We were smack in the middle a house building project, my baby sister was 7 months old, and I had no idea what Al-qaeda was. I quickly found out and a whole new world of evil shattered another portion of my innocence.
We didn't have a TV in the trailer. We didn't have much of anything. We were a bare minimum family for a while. 2 years kind of while. I wasn't even allowed to use my curling iron...for a teenage girl, that was just not acceptable. I got over it. Kind of.
There's not a whole lot I remember about that day.
I remember it was like a bad black and white movie. Playing all day. In slow motion.
I remember crying, out of horror for the people in those buildings and in those planes, and out of fear for whatever might happen next. No one really knew. Anything could have happened.
But when America woke up on September 11th, the world was just as broken and twisted as it was at 8:46AM. But now, now we were reminded of it. All of us. There was no ignoring the blatant evil that parading before our eyes. No, it was real and it staring us straight in the face.
Now, 10 years later, evil still exists.
In some cases, worse than 10 years ago. But God...yes, even now He is still greater than this. He is still more powerful and He is still good, though it's ok to question. Even the people of the Bible questioned God's presence in the midst of evil and suffering. Here is the dialogue:
David's Questions & Accusations: Why oh Lord do you stand far off?, Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts of the cravings of his heart...his victims are crushed, they collapse, they fall under his strength. He says to himself, "God has forgotten [them]. He covers his face and never sees." {Psalm 10:1-11}
The Response: [But] You hear, oh Lord, the desire of the afflicted. You encourage them and listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. {Psalm 10:16-18}
Let's read that again,
[But] You hear, oh Lord, the desire of the afflicted. You encourage them and listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. No more. No more.
For all the injustice that happens in our world, it will come to an end. One day.
My heart swells for the families affected by September 11, 2001. I will be praying for you today. All day. There is nothing we can say to make your loss any less. But we are sorry. So, so, so very sorry.
