Thoughts on 9/11

Our youth group from Edgewood Baptist took a trip to NYC back in the mid-80's (probably summer of '84 or '85).  We stayed outside the city, near Peekskill (home of TV's "Facts of Life' :-), wend into the city to do outreach with several churches - we visited churches on Long Island, Queens and Jersey City, NJ.   


We rode the ferry past the Statue of Liberty, which was under renovation for the then-future centennial celebration which would take place in the summer of '86 and introduce a young Sandi Patty to the nation.  The Statue looked like a rocket ship out in the harbor:  she was surrounded by scaffolding, but i could see the top of her arm and the torch just barely sticking out above the top of the girders.


On one of our fun excursions into NYC we went to top of the World Trade Center.  Not exactly sure which of the towers we went in, but I believe it was the tower that housed Windows on the World restaurant.  I do remember being disappointed that we weren't going to Empire State building or Bloomingdale's, too :-).  What I do remember from that visit:  the loooong ride to the top and the amazing view once we arrived at the observation deck - of course once we got there I forgot all about wishing we'd gone to the ESB :-) You could literally see for miles and to be above all the other skyscrapers was simply, a sight to behold. 

When you see something that massive - even if only for one day - you can't imagine it simply disappearing in a matter of seconds.  It was after work that day, before I was able to see with my own eyes what had been done on September 11th.  I knew what had happened, thanks to news reports and conversations with Mom and other friends that morning.  Not seeing with my eyes, somehow, some part of me kept hoping it just couldn't REALLY have happened.  So even though my head already knew - I still well, just
hoped...

i found comfort in the days that followed in the following verses from the Psalms - "One thing I ask fthe LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life...for in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.  Ps 27:4-5.