Not On This Soil...

Lights of 9/11 Memorial

This September 11th, marks 10 years since that unbelievable morning.  It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years.  I remember it so vividly still.  I remember where I was standing and where I prayed in my office next to my desk in disbelief.  I remember having the feeling of, "We're under attack!" as the plans seemed to continue to bombard our country in flaming torrents of terrorism.  I remember the panic of everyone, and the uncertainty of everything going on, of that moment.  I remember just wanting to go home from my office in Birmingham, Alabama and wanting to be with my wife, Pamela, and six month old son, Caleb.  I didn't necessarily feel that we were under any immediate danger being in Birmingham per se, but the feeling of uncertainty and the heightened sense of fragility and vulnerability were unmistakable.

At that time, there was an arrogant sense that this couldn't happen here... not on our soil, not to us, not to Americans.  That feeling has changed.  Now the sentiment is more like, "When this happens again on American soil," as we've come to expect another, possibly multiple, attacks in our future.  The question of attacks has changed from "if" to "when".

Perhaps it wasn't so much arrogance, but more of naivety and a false sense of security.  Not on American soil... was the sentiment of September 10th; the eleventh, however, changed that forever.  Now in the back of our minds is the numb anticipation that a break-in news cast will again interrupt our "Good Morning America" lifestyles with news that we are yet still penetrable and vulnerable to terrorist attacks despite our best efforts to protect ourselves.

Uncertainty Is All Around Us

Hurricane Katrina Aftermath

Recently, we were jostled from the sleep that we had seen our last Hurricane Katrina when it came in crushing tides of tornado after tornado in April of 2011, ripping our neighbors and loved ones from our very lives.   I wonder if in March of 2011 Japan said, "Not here, not on our soil," when they were crumpled to rubble by an earthquake and the still looming nuclear uncertainty of all those exposed to the radiation that followed it?  Haiti is still in ruins, and billions of dollars could not save Port Au Prince.  Years after the Haitian earthquake there is little change from the destruction that rocked them.  I wonder if the Haitians said in their bewilderment, "Not on our soil"?  Our eastern seaboard was shaken by its own earthquake and a tropical storm that swamped the southeast.  Iowa and the Midwest were flooded and so much damage flowed from the flood's own wake.  Our economy is teetering at best, and will not be able to withstand our borrow/spend policies followed by our government.  Yet we keep borrowing and spending like the astronaut from the movie "Armageddon" who was convinced he wouldn't survive their mission to the meteor.  Eventually, even after saving the world, he had to face his mob-boss-creditors and would experience his own "judgment day" as perhaps we will too.

Not On Our Soil... But Why Not?  

Are we so much different from the rest of the world who lives daily in fear that a rocket from terrorists in Gaza or guerrillas in Somalia are going to permanently maim their children, themselves or their friends and neighbors? Why are we any different when radical Islam hails us as the Great Satan and are on a mission from "god" to destroy us or convert us?  We have had it so good here for so long, and I wonder if we've taken that for granted?

9/11 Flag amidst rubble

September 11th awakened us to the stark reality that September 10th is no longer a possibility.  We are also, sadly, well removed from the unity we experienced on September 12th.  Now, on this soil, we live with the with the quiet, numb remembrance of that horrible morning and we mustn't any longer live with the naive arrogance that this cannot happen on our soil.  The attacks on September 11th set the bar high for would-be terrorists all over the world to recreate and "one up" such an event that struck our two iconic symbols of wealth and prosperity, and it empowered them by showing that even our military power and might has a penetrable underbelly when it struck the iconic symbol of both power and might, The Pentagon.

On That Heavenly Soil...

We must remember those who have given their lives.  Pray for them.  Honor them.  Love and respect them.  But our answer doesn't lie in well placed patriotism or even in heroically honorable civic servitude.  It lies solely in the hands of the loving, merciful God-Jehovah.

If we turn completely to Him in trust and unwavering commitment, then no matter what may befall our nation, our world or our families our souls will be forever secure not on earthly soil that sees destruction daily and woes are ever increasing, but on that Heavenly soil... where nothing given to God in Christ can ever be lost.