| Author | Message | ||
| Riverfonz Registered user Username: Riverfonz Post Number: 771 Registered: 3-2005 |
It has been four years since that terror filled day. Does anyone care to comment on where they were that day? Was there a spiritual impact on your life? Did anyone lose friends or loved ones on that terrible day? Do you believe that attack was a judgment of God on America? Or was this what EGW was talking about when she advised the Advent followers to leave the big cities? Any comments? Stan | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 2520 Registered: 12-2003  |
Stan, interesting questions. I was just pulling out of the driveway with Nathanael to face another day of school. I had the radio on as Nathanael shut the gate, and I heard a newscaster say something about a plane flying through one of the twin towers. I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong--a plane had crashed, gone of course...when I suddently heard them say another plane had just flown through the second tower. I knew then that this was not an accident. I was absolutely dumbfounded as I drove to school. When I got there, one of my colleagues, the history teacher, was in the hallway. I asked if he had heard that planes had crashed into the twin towers. In horror he rushed to his room to turn on the TV. I had a prep period first period, and both the principal and the administrator came into my room to watch news coverage and to decide what to do with the students. They actually did not have an assembly that day but did a closed-circuit broadcast throughout the school during first period. Students and teachers were in shock. That evening Trinity church held a prayer vigil which severa hundred people from the community attended. Gary had the whole congregation/audience divide into small groups, and he directed us in prayers to pray together for about an hour or an hour and a half. It was somehow comforting if surreal. I didn't personally know anyone in the twin towers, but many people in church did. One man who used to attend Richard's men's Bible study is a United airlines pilot, and the flight of one of those planes was actually his routine route. He had flown it a couple of days before and was at home that day. The students at school were shaken, and I had them jouirnal about various aspects of the event for several days. We talked about it, had prayer for people involved, etc., as did all the other teachers. I see the event as a fulfillment not of Ellen's prophecies but of Jesus' prophecies that more and more trouble would happen on the earth, and men's hearts would fail them for fear. Thanks for bringing up this topic, Stan. It's good to reflect. Colleen | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 1852 Registered: 3-2004  |
I was at work, in Virginia. I was in the office when the supervisor heard about the 1st tower and not much later, the 2nd tower. The place is about 30 miles from the Pentagon, so we heard about that not long after. We were all in shock. The you man, who was my aide and who is a Christian, asked me as we walked out the door to go work with some patients about why some one would do this. My answer, at the time and to a certain degree still think this way, was that Satan is in the hearts of men who do not know God and they will do his bidding. The way anyone can hurt anyone, who has children, is not to hurt the parents, but to hurt the children. We are God's creation and seeing as Satan did not succeed with Jesus, because He rose from the grave, Satan will do anything he can to hurt God's creation. So Satan will use anything he can to deface, hurt God's creation. He will use whoever is willing to cooperate with him, and they do not know with whom they are cooperating. That was my answer to the young Christian man, as a part time SDA. This young man is from Ethopia and has seen Americans at their worst in his country and other countries he has traveled in. He did not think of it as Satan trying to wreak havoc on God's creation until we talked about it.. The husband, of one of the PTs, had a cousin at the Pentagon, that was killed when the plane struck it. To God be all Honor and Glory. He is awesome. Diana | ||
| Dd Registered user Username: Dd Post Number: 542 Registered: 7-2004 |
What a morning that was! I will never forget the sick pit in my stomach as I sat glued to the TV all day long. My husband called from work every 10-15 minutes for updates. Several of my stay-at-home-mom friends called and we got together for prayer in the afternoon before we headed to school to pick up kids. Did anyone watch the special on the Discovery Channel last night on Flight 93? It was excellent. The families that they interviewed, following the documentary, were inspirational in their comments of how all 40 people on board were the right people on board to carry out such a heroic mission, how the plane crashed in such a peaceful spot and how the people of the nearby town (closest to the crash site) were the perfect people to be watching over the sight. Without saying it out loud, it seemed to me that they were all speaking of the sovereignty of God. It was a moving, spiritual story for me to experience. | ||
| Heretic Registered user Username: Heretic Post Number: 184 Registered: 2-2005 |
I was working in an acute care setting as a P.T. and just beginning my day and had seen only one or two patients before it happened. I was walking down the hall towards the nurse's station to chart when a patient, probably in his mid to late 40's, hair disheveled, wearing one of those lovely hospital gowns with his backside hanging out for the world to see, came stumbling out of his room. "Hey, buddy," he said, "a jet just crashed into the World Trade Center." I had no idea what he was in for but my first thought was that this guy wasn't in his right mind, but I followed him into his room and couldn't believe my eyes as I saw the gaping hole high up in that tower. It wasn't two or three minutes later before I saw the next plane crash into the second tower. Up until that point, the commentator (I think it was Matt Lauer)was discussing the possibility of pilot error, an air traffic snafu, etc. After the second hit, we all knew it was war. By this time a nurse and patient care assistant had stopped in to see what was going on. We all must have stood there looking up at the television, transfixed for at least 15 or 20 minutes. I wasn't very productive that day, mostly as a result of patients refusing services because they wanted to watch events transpire. I remember feeling like I'd been kicked in the stomach by a mule when I wasn't looking. It turned into a stew of emotions including hurt, sorrow, sympathy, hopelessness, and pure anger. What a surreal time that was! Heretic | ||
| Riverfonz Registered user Username: Riverfonz Post Number: 774 Registered: 3-2005 |
I was just getting up that morning to get ready to go to the hospital. I was listening to the Hugh Hewitt talk show on radio. My wife and I were so stunned, we could hardly get ready for work. At the hospital it was a very busy day, as men's hearts were literally failing them for fear. Not only their spiritual hearts, but their literal hearts, as I treated one chest pain after the other that day. Despite the tragedy, I do remember the spirit of unity and patriotism that existed during the aftermath with all the flags, etc. But there seemed to be a spiritual awakening as well. I did have what seemed like a personal loss that day (even though it clearly was not), when I heard about the death of Barbara Olson, the wife of the Solicitor General Ted Olson. She was a bright and winsome TV commentator and guest on a lot of the TV news talk shows. I did hear that one of the pilots on one of the planes that crashed into the towers, had become a Christian and was a friend of a good apologetics ministry (Stand to Reason-Greg Koukl), and was active in leading Bible studies when he went to be with the Lord on that fateful day. Stan | ||
| Susan_2 Registered user Username: Susan_2 Post Number: 1907 Registered: 11-2002 |
Stan, as was my routine back then I was watching Good Morning, America. I saw it happen. I yelled at the man I thought was my husband, "Look! Look! That is really happening and it's happening right now!" I called my mother and she sat transfixed in front of her tv, too. And, No, a hundred times, No, it was not God's judgement on America. It was evil hearted people who did that. yes, I have read my Bible and I do read my Bible and yes, in the OT are many stories of God's wrath upon the wicked. We are now under grace. As such, it is not god's wrath but it is evil done by wicked people. What I don't understand though is there was such efficiency in dealing with the tragedity of 09-11, yet, there seemed to be nothing but chaos and confusion in dealing with Katrina. Fro now on I plan to vote for the political candate who says s/he will help and aid fellow Americans first. No, I knew noone caught up in that sadness. | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1056 Registered: 7-2003  |
I was sitting at the intersection waiting for my light about 3 blocks from work when the announcer from my Christian radio station commented that there was one plane in, then a second. I had a tv at my desk at work (5" b/w...talk about stone ages) and I was trying to see what was going on from that little screen. I hoped my kids were safe and debated going to get them. I spent a long time that day pondering about what I had worried about the day before, and the battle to get the kids out the door that morning...and wondering if anything I had struggled with had any real value by comparison. I was finally beginning to understand the very real conflicts I read in adventism and was trying to evaluate what value those conflicts had with how I lived life and the choices I made in my day. It was a real separation of what was real and of value in my life. I didn't see it as a judgement, but as an attack of evil personified. Nice to hear from you again, Susan. I've missed your whit! | ||
| Belvalew Registered user Username: Belvalew Post Number: 659 Registered: 7-2004 |
I thought I was the only one awake in the house when my son came running into the living room telling me to turn on the TV, that we were at war. I turned it on just in time to see the second airplane go into the second tower, and I turned to him and totally agreed with him, that yes, this was an act of war. Now all we had to do was figure out who the coward was that would use our own airplanes against us. To this day I view Osama bin Laden as a coward because of his methods of warfare. I live on the West Coast and knew no one living in New York at that time. I spent the day with one ear on my radio at work. I worked at the time for an architectural firm, and the owner wanted to keep all of his staff focussed on the business at hand, which was business. Every person there was a divided person that day, trying to look like they were working when the boss was around, and clustered around radios listening for news when he was not. Susan, in response to your comparison of New York and New Orleans, the tragedy in New York only effected a portion of the city, and they had a great mayor at the time. New Orleans was totally devestated by its tragedy, and the mayor of New Orleans became as much a victim of that storm as his constituents. That is my opinion. | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1059 Registered: 7-2003 |
Plus, the victims in NY mostly died. In the gulf area, they're walking wounded. Yes, the families of NY suffered, but in a different way than the gulf area. The NY families still had basic necessities. Those in the gulf area were without the very basics. Loss is loss on some level, but on another, there was truly nothing that someone could do to ease the suffering in NY. The suffering in the south is so massive it's hard to comprehend how you now house 100,000 people. It'd take an awfully big hotel. |
