While focusing on the month of September for my column, I was struck by the powerful images of the deadly attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four American passenger planes, turning them into lethal bombs, as they targeted key sites in our country.
I was on a plane to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary when the tragedy struck. After landing in New Orleans, all flights were canceled. In fact, the handful of trustees who had flown in for a committee meeting could not get a bus, train, plane, or rental car out of the city. Fortunately, by Friday of that week, we were able to secure a rental car through the efforts of president Chuck Kelley.
During our time on campus, we prayed, attended chapel services, had a couple of meetings, but mostly were fixed on the television reports continually being telecast about the attacks.
It all seemed so surreal, and yet it stirred my emotions deeply.
The twin towers in New York were hit at 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m. The Pentagon was struck at 9:37 a.m. — and at 10:03 a.m., the fourth hijacked plane, which many believed was headed for either the Capitol or the White House, crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania when brave passengers rushed the hijackers. Everyone on all four planes plus over 2,000 more were killed that day.
The results of this horror were felt around the world — some rejoiced, but most rallied behind America. A headline in the French newspaper, LeMonde’s, read, “We are all Americans now.” President George W. Bush responded with decisive action and told the world that the U.S. would hunt down the terrorists behind the attacks. His poll numbers skyrocketed from a 55 percent favorable rating before Sept. 11 to 90 percent on Sept. 12, the highest ever recorded for a president.
U.S. military forces attacked Afghanistan where al-Qaeda had its best training bases and began the war on terrorism. Within a few months, thousands of terrorists were killed or captured and their leaders went into hiding. One report confirmed that Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, had “disastrously misjudged” the will of America to fight.
On the evening of Sept. 11, 150 members of Congress gathered together on the steps of the Capitol Building. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert said to the throng of media gathered that the Congress was united, and that “those who brought this evil deed will pay the price.” As the members of Congress began to disperse, some spontaneously started to sing, “God Bless America,” and immediately the rest joined that unusual choir.
In the days that followed, Billy Graham spoke at the National Cathedral to a packed house of the nation’s leaders. Students and teachers prayed in our public schools all across our land without giving it a second thought. Services, gatherings, prayer meetings, etc., were held. It seemed like revival was in the air, and that this tragedy was going to be used by God for our spiritual awakening.
But it was short-lived, and our nation is in greater need of revival now than then. Our culture has shifted further away from God and His Word than we could have imagined on that fateful day in 2001.
We need a great movement of God in our nation — nothing less will suffice. It may happen, or it may not. However, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot shrink from our calling to be the salt and light of this land. We may never see Congress sing “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capitol again, but we can be voices for truth and lives that truly seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. We may feel like we cannot do much — but God can, and He has chosen to work through His faithful and believing people.
I don’t think those of us who lived through the 9/11 experience will ever forget it, and I hope we will never forget to stay focused on the Sovereign Lord who can do exceedingly more than we ask or think. The kind of sincere prayers that were offered then are needed now.