WEEK 8 – DAY 2

GREAT PEACE

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. Psalm 119:165

September 11, 2001 – Like our parents remember Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, our generation will never forget the day the twin towers collapsed into rubble and dust.  I was sitting at my desk in the auto dealership accounting office where I worked.  My supervisor asked if I’d heard the news that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and one of the towers was on fire.  I didn’t turn on the car radio that morning and had not.  Someone else came in and said, “A second plane has hit the other tower, and it looks intentional!” As my coworkers flew up the stairs to gather around the television, I sat in stunned disbelief. Realizing I was completely alone, I remembered the best thing I could do about this tragedy was to pray.  Therefore, in the silence of the empty room, I bowed my head and asked the Lord to watch over the people in New York and to give us peace in the midst of confusion, horror, and fear.  I called my sister at her workplace.  She was watching it all unfold on TV and gasped, “Oh my gosh!  The tower just disintegrated!”  I hung up the phone. Tears flowed as I prayed for families of victims and first responders who would risk and lose their lives. I watched news reports of a plane hitting the Pentagon and a plane ditched in a field to keep it from reaching its intended target.  I prayed for wisdom for President Bush and peace for his wife.  I was upset but not unsettled.  The Lord restored my peace as I exercised my faith in his sovereignty and control. Fear of more attacks gripped the nation. Local schools gave parents the option to pick up their children early.  I was keenly aware that my home lay between an airbase and a major airport and only two miles from Bell Helicopter. Even so, I had to agree with our CFO when he said, “If we cease to be productive, the enemy wins.”  He was talking about the terrorists.  I was thinking about Satan.  If he could take my focus off God’s power, he would win.  I was determined not to let him and continued to pray, and God gave me great peace.

Father, thank You for peace that passes all understanding.