Nine-Eleven

This will forever be a strange and sadly, bad day. I, like everyone else, remember 9/11/2001 clearly. I was getting ready for work and turned on the Today Show. I stood in front of the TV and watched the world unravel. And then for a full week I was glued to CNN, watching the same footage over and over and over again because what else could you do? It simply would not sink in.

I remember that night going to church. I don't remember any announcement that there would be a service - but everyone came. On auto-pilot.

And now, 9 years later, we still hold on to it.

Not that we shouldn't. It was the day that we lost 3,000 innocent lives and watched unfathomable acts that tried to destroy us. We were made to look evil in its face.

But the face of evil is not Islamic or Muslim. The vast majority of Islamics and Muslims are not interested in seeing Americans wiped off the face of the earth. They are people like any other and want simply to live their lives and raise their children and love each other and have friends and jobs and go to picnics and own a home and take a vacation and be educated and productive. The face of evil is comprised of people from all walks of life who are filled with anger and hate and ignorance.

The worst kind of evil, the kind that creates the most damage, like 9/11, is the evil done in the name of God. One only need look at the atrocities of The Crusades to find a similar horror. And in the name of Christ, no less. Now before you get angry - I am not, in any way, trying to give justification to the acts of 9/11 by comparing them to anything else. Nor am I suggesting that we "put it into perspective". What I am suggesting is that we cannot truly fight evil unless we seek to know God. We would be well served to remember that God commands us to love our enemies. That doesn't mean we turn the other cheek when we are attacked. It doesn't mean that we don't hold those responsible accountable. It doesn't mean that we don't fight the battle. We must be vigilant. We must be prepared. It means though, that we remember not to give ourselves permission to hate. Because God is never found in any doctrine that advocates hatred. Against Islam. Against Muslim. Against Judaism, Against Christianity. Many are lost and walk in the dark. Still, God loves us all.

I watch the media and shake my head over people who seek to stir the pot every year at this time. We must guard ourselves against hearts hardened by fear and revenge. To harbor fear and suspicion against all who match a "profile" is not only wrong, it serves only to perpetuate the evil. Psalm 37:8-9 says: "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath do not fret - it only leads to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

Romans 8:15 - "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you again a slave of fear, but you have received a spirit of sonship." We are called to a personal relationship with God. We have been given a spirit of hope. And those who know the source of that hope and the supernatural power it yields can unleash it into their lives and come out, not only with hope itself, but a renewed faith and understanding of God. And then we can come back out from the darkness and walk tall in the light.

We can, and do, move on.