Today I came across the following article on the web:

70 Powerful Images From September 11, 2001 – By H.Q. Roosevelt

http://www.rsvlts.com/2012/09/11/70-powerful-images-from-september-11-2001/

Looking at these photos taken on 9/11/01 and subsequent days brings back all of the shock, horror, grief and disbelief of that morning….When one plane, then two planes, then three planes, then four crashed into buildings and then in PA, I felt like it was the end of the world and that I was watching it happen on live television.

I remember the morning news program that I was watching that morning began its live coverage shortly after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center.  I was shocked and thought “What a terrible accident!! How in the world did this happen?”  And then the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center while the cameras caught the unimaginable which was broadcast live to the world.  I called my father, who was working and had not yet heard of the horrible events that were unfolding in New York.  (The planes had not yet hit the Pentagon or crashed in Shanksville, PA.)  I am sure he must have thought I’d lost my mind when he heard me sobbing and trying to describe what I was seeing on the television.

For so many, it was the end of their worlds…..

I am horrified at the photos showing people falling in mid-air after choosing to jump and fall hundreds of stories to their deaths as opposed to burning alive in the buildings….I can’t conceive such desperation.

My heart resonates with the anguish and grief shown on the face of one man after viewing the collapse of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  At some point we just can’t process what we are witnessing and just have to cry.

I marvel at the photo taken eight days later showing firemen still battling a fire at ground zero, and other photos taken in October (weeks after the attack) where you can still see smoke & dust in the air.  We forget how very long it took to recover and restore the area after the tragedy.

Remembering this terrible event and all of the evil things that have happened since (school shootings, movie theater shootings, shootings at political events, bombings in Boston, etc.) and current events that are still happening in the world, it is clear that there will be no peace on this earth until Jesus Christ returns.

These verses from the Holy Bible seem relevant to this subject and give me comfort….They also help me focus on my responsibility in these times and also the hope that I have in Christ:

Ephesians 6:12:  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

John 8: 12:  When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

2 Peter 1:4:  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Revelation 3:10:  Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

1 Peter 4:7:  The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.

1 Corinthians 15:24:  Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

Rev 22:20:  He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Credits for photos used in the collage included on this post:

Statue of Liberty (AP Photo/Dan Loh)
Brooklyn Bridge (STR/Reuters /Landov)
Collapsing Tower (AP Photo/Gulnara Samoilova)
Collapsing Towers aerial (AP Photo/NYPD, Det. Greg Semendinger)
People covered in dust (AP Photo/Gulnara Samoilova)
Firefighters Oct 11, 2011 (AP Photo/Stan Honda)