Speechless, I could only point my finger...

In horror I watched them.

Smoke billowed and earthbound papers hung in the air, flashing like minnows in a stream. I prayed aloud that would be all we would see tumbling from the sky, as I told the Sheriff,

"I pray to God they get everyone out, because I don't know how that building's going to be able to survive an impact like that."

I called my husband to turn on the television at work, because I knew this was an important moment in history and we needed to begin praying for thousands of people we had never met.

As an Emergency Dispatcher I was accustomed to playing my small, unnoticed part in the turmoil and tragedy of our mid-western county. But nothing prepares you for witnessing the destruction that took place seven years ago this day, 2000 miles from my chair in front of a crackling radio, as a plane flew into the side of a building.

It wasn't long and the flash of a plane accelerating into a second tower was witnessed by millions.

I saw it, but could hardly believe it. I blinked, but I wasn't dreaming.

The two towers stood like like school teachers bravely facing the assault while doing their best to protect the stunned students who tried to escape.

2000 miles away in our Mayberry-like setting, business as usual seemed to be continuing as far as my radio could hear. Looking out the window of my tiny office it was hard to imagine that the rest of the sleepy little town was blissfully unaware that people were dying, history was happening, and their lives would never be the same again.

I thought about my kids in school, and wondered what their lives would be like. Would they ever be safe again? Would they ever feel safe again? Were they old enough to know the difference?

We watched helplessly as smoke billowed from two identical towers. It filled the horizon with a sinister fog that covered the city like a kidnapper's hand over a screaming face, stealing away the innocence of a country and the children who lived there.

Then, it began to happen.

The tower had stood firm as people fled from her doors, but she finally could protect them no longer. Exhausted, she shuddered with the strain, and collapsed.

The police chief chose that moment to walk thru the doorway. I know he said something about the weather to me at that second, but for once, I was both stunned and without words. He said, "What...?" and I pointed my finger.



God bless America and everyone who takes shelter within her protective arms. We are sheltered and we have no idea how lucky we are to live here. We think ourselves wise, but we have no perspective. We take so much for granted. We take precious time and energy complaining and bickering and sometimes acting like dis-respectful school children on a playground, taunting each other when the teacher isn't watching. Think what we could do as a people if we took all that anger and became the change we wanted to see in others.

Thankfully, my father did not have to give his life for his country, but he offered it just the same, literally placing himself between America and those who would torture and destroy her. He loves this country far beyond words. The only time I ever saw my father weep was in defense of America, the land for which he placed his own body as a shield so many years ago. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

I pray for all those who have lost their lives in defense of our freedoms, and the friends and families who have loved them. I pray for those who lost their lives when madmen murdered them in the name of hatred and selfishness, and those who were left to carry on after the haze was finally lifted. I ask that God grant peace, and healing, and forgiveness to a nation that still mourns the loss of precious lives that cannot be returned to us in this world, but with whom we will be reunited in the next. And I pray that God has patience with us, mere children who don't understand, and who often misbehave.

God, grant us the strength to have focus that will pull our nation together as brothers and sisters, and the courage to make sure those lives have not been lost in vain.