I read that people were jumping from the burning buildings to their death and I wanted desperately to read the online news or turn on the tv but mostly to cry, to fall on my knees and cry! Alas, I was responsible for the well-being of about 25 seventh graders at that moment and did not want to freak them out... and since I, and every other teacher, was kind of freaking out inside, it's pretty possible that they might have done the same. Seriously, they were twelve and thirteen and what we was happening was unimaginable! What I read sounded like the end of the world but I had to stay calm and had been instructed to go about the day as if nothing had happened so that the kids would hear it from their parents and not us.
In the days that passed after September 11, 2001 I was glued to the television for an unknown number of hours, just like everyone else in the world. I still remember hearing George W. Bush's voice crack when he addressed the country. I was impressed by his transparency and genuine brokenness for the families that were suffering. I remember feeling so very confused and yet, when he promised to find out who had done this, I believed that he would. Yet, I could not imagine who in the world would do such an awful thing as fly airplanes into three buildings, and attempt another, murdering thousands? Who? Who? WHO? And then we heard his name...
OSAMA BIN LADEN
Do you remember when you first heard the name? Part of me was so relieved that there was a name for this awful person and yet, it still made no sense at all.
A few weeks ago I explained to my kids that their uncle would be leaving soon to go fight in the war in Afghanistan. Gavin was excited about the helicopter Uncle Bert will fly and the guns he'll shoot. Madeline was more... well, Madeline. "Why is there a war at all Mom? It just seems stupid that he has to fight in a war. What is this war about anyway?" I realized at that moment that so much had happened since the war began that it took a moment for my brain to find that file, so to speak, on why we're there. It was seriously like something in a movie in my head. I saw scenes and heard clips of the news over the last decade... people murdered... Women raped and stoned... Saddam Hussein... Iraq... nothing made sense and then.... I remembered.
It wasn't that I'd forgotten the event of 9/11. It wasn't that I didn't still pray for the families that lost loved ones. It wasn't that the image of people leaping out of windows to their death isn't seared into my mind. It wasn't that I'd forgotten the audio tapes of all the messages left on answering machines by those who had accepted their fate. It wasn't that I'd forgotten the firefighters that raced into the flames to save others and sacrifice themselves. It wasn't that I'd forgotten that you can plainly see the different color brick when you see the Pentagon. I had not forgotten the people... or the pain but it had been sooo stinking loooonnnngg that it just took my mind through all of that to remember that our troops were sent to fight to get Osama Bin Laden and now, they have.
So, I reminded her of 9/11 and how many families' lives were changed forever because of the attack planned by Osama Bin Laden. I explained that even though bringing Bin Laden to justice wouldn't change the desperate ache in the hearts of those people or the effects of the absence of their loved one or the sickness now suffered by those whose lungs were damaged by breathing the NYC air that day or... or ... or... that it would be just. That it would be fair. To pay an earthly penalty for our actions is fair... to pay an eternal penalty for our actions is our choice.
This morning, with a hesitant heart, I told the kids that Bin Laden had been killed. Gavin punched the air in victory. I knew EXACTLY what he was feeling! Madeline asked "Mom, why did they kill him? Couldn't they have captured him?" I knew exactly what she was feeling too.
So, I explained that we can infer from the wealth of the family that Bin Laden was born into and his exposure to the world that he'd heard about Jesus and rejected him. Bin Laden embraced his own god... a god that cannot even be defined as the Allah of the muslim religion but himself... and death... and terror. He had been given the chance at salvation and had rejected it. I also explained that this does not end the war because beneath Bin Laden, in the chain of command, there are countless others serving that same god... just WAITING for their turn to bestow their will upon the world.
Alas, the war against evil wages on as it has since Eve took that first sinful bite.
I wish, I desperately wish that Bin Laden would have accepted Jesus, repented of all his sin, turned himself in and taken responsibility for his actions... but as far as we can know that's not the case. He is likely experiencing the punishment described in Luke 16:19-31... the punishment that I have also earned with my actions. Let us not think higher of ourselves than we ought. It is only because of Jesus that we won't taste that anguish of hell and for THAT I celebrate... but yes, Madeline, a sheep was lost forever and that serves to us as a reminder that God, alone, is the just judge and that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded... and as we do, we can know that He is always with us to the very end of the age. It is only in knowing Jesus that any type of peace exists in a world that has not known the absence of war.
May the peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be with the troops... specifically the one who pulled the trigger that brought worldly justice this week. The taking of a human life changes a person. May they know that they did what they were sent to do and may our country stop fighting over silly things and be united in lifting up our military men and women. They do what is unimaginable to the rest of us and they allow us to live in a land founded on true freedom.
A few weeks ago I explained to my kids that their uncle would be leaving soon to go fight in the war in Afghanistan. Gavin was excited about the helicopter Uncle Bert will fly and the guns he'll shoot. Madeline was more... well, Madeline. "Why is there a war at all Mom? It just seems stupid that he has to fight in a war. What is this war about anyway?" I realized at that moment that so much had happened since the war began that it took a moment for my brain to find that file, so to speak, on why we're there. It was seriously like something in a movie in my head. I saw scenes and heard clips of the news over the last decade... people murdered... Women raped and stoned... Saddam Hussein... Iraq... nothing made sense and then.... I remembered.
It wasn't that I'd forgotten the event of 9/11. It wasn't that I didn't still pray for the families that lost loved ones. It wasn't that the image of people leaping out of windows to their death isn't seared into my mind. It wasn't that I'd forgotten the audio tapes of all the messages left on answering machines by those who had accepted their fate. It wasn't that I'd forgotten the firefighters that raced into the flames to save others and sacrifice themselves. It wasn't that I'd forgotten that you can plainly see the different color brick when you see the Pentagon. I had not forgotten the people... or the pain but it had been sooo stinking loooonnnngg that it just took my mind through all of that to remember that our troops were sent to fight to get Osama Bin Laden and now, they have.
So, I reminded her of 9/11 and how many families' lives were changed forever because of the attack planned by Osama Bin Laden. I explained that even though bringing Bin Laden to justice wouldn't change the desperate ache in the hearts of those people or the effects of the absence of their loved one or the sickness now suffered by those whose lungs were damaged by breathing the NYC air that day or... or ... or... that it would be just. That it would be fair. To pay an earthly penalty for our actions is fair... to pay an eternal penalty for our actions is our choice.
This morning, with a hesitant heart, I told the kids that Bin Laden had been killed. Gavin punched the air in victory. I knew EXACTLY what he was feeling! Madeline asked "Mom, why did they kill him? Couldn't they have captured him?" I knew exactly what she was feeling too.
...
So, I explained that we can infer from the wealth of the family that Bin Laden was born into and his exposure to the world that he'd heard about Jesus and rejected him. Bin Laden embraced his own god... a god that cannot even be defined as the Allah of the muslim religion but himself... and death... and terror. He had been given the chance at salvation and had rejected it. I also explained that this does not end the war because beneath Bin Laden, in the chain of command, there are countless others serving that same god... just WAITING for their turn to bestow their will upon the world.
Alas, the war against evil wages on as it has since Eve took that first sinful bite.
I wish, I desperately wish that Bin Laden would have accepted Jesus, repented of all his sin, turned himself in and taken responsibility for his actions... but as far as we can know that's not the case. He is likely experiencing the punishment described in Luke 16:19-31... the punishment that I have also earned with my actions. Let us not think higher of ourselves than we ought. It is only because of Jesus that we won't taste that anguish of hell and for THAT I celebrate... but yes, Madeline, a sheep was lost forever and that serves to us as a reminder that God, alone, is the just judge and that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded... and as we do, we can know that He is always with us to the very end of the age. It is only in knowing Jesus that any type of peace exists in a world that has not known the absence of war.
May the peace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be with the troops... specifically the one who pulled the trigger that brought worldly justice this week. The taking of a human life changes a person. May they know that they did what they were sent to do and may our country stop fighting over silly things and be united in lifting up our military men and women. They do what is unimaginable to the rest of us and they allow us to live in a land founded on true freedom.
...
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:16-18
1 comment:
This was so great to hear! I know it was a mix of confusing feelings for me, especially being an Air Force wife. But this was beautiful to read :)
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