Sept. 11 was simply another ordinary date until that day 25 years ago when it wasn’t. It still isn’t a holiday, and perhaps never will become one, but it is certainly a day we should never forget. It was a day that changed our lives. It was a day of events that altered how we live our lives. Alan Jackson sang the question, “Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September day?”
It was one of those days like the day when President Kennedy was shot or the morning Pearl Harbor was bombed. Those who are old enough to remember those horrific events remember exactly where and when they heard the news. On Nov. 22, 1963, I was in the third grade at Plainview Elementary School. I still don’t know how he knew, but that afternoon a fellow student came down our hall saying that President Kennedy had been shot. I was barely old enough to comprehend what had happened, but I still remember it vividly.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was driving to my office at Gracewood Baptist Church, in Southaven, Mississippi, when I heard the news on my radio that an airplane had crashed into one the towers of The World Trade Center in New York. Less than 30 minutes later we learned that another plane had crashed into the other tower. Soon afterward, both towers collapsed to the ground. Later that same morning, a third jet crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane, that is believed to have been aiming for the White House, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people senselessly died that morning at the hands of 19 hijackers. Although that seems like only a few years ago, this week marks the 25th anniversary of those horrendous actions.
These kinds of events have a way of changing our lives. These happenings have caused us to be more cautious as we’ve realized how dangerous our world has become. After seeing the movie “Jaws” in 1975, I’ve never gone back into the water without at least wondering if I might lose a limb or my life to a shark. Since the 9/11 events, I have continued to fly but never without wondering if it was safe. I am thankful for the tightened security at our airports, but simply boarding a plane has become a major ordeal. Many areas of our lives will never be the same, and perhaps they should not be.
The night after the 9/11 attacks, we had an impromptu prayer gathering at church. Many churches across the nation did the same. People were angry, frightened and nervous, as we wondered what might happen next. The world had not stopped turning, but many who may have stopped turning to God, stopped once again to do so in our time of great need. Even with hardly any time to get the word out, about 40 people showed up on that Tuesday evening at my church to pray. The next night was our regular prayer meeting and Bible study night and we had about twice as many as we normally had. The following Sunday, our sanctuary was packed. For the next month, we had some of the highest attendances not only in my church, but in numerous others across the nation.
The world did continue to turn, and in many ways, life slowly returned to normal. I pray we never have another day like Sept. 11, 2001, but how nice it would be to see so many of God’s people continue to come together in worship and prayer…and not just when something horrible has happened.
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com.
