Remembering

To state something I am sure you already know, today is the 10th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It seems like every other post on Facebook today was people sharing where they were when they heard and what their thoughts are now. I was an extremely innocent high school senior sitting in Mr. Surace's 2nd block AP Calculus class. I didn't know what the significance of the Twin Towers was when I first heard the news, but I did get scared 5 minutes later when I heard the Pentagon was hit. I ended up sobbing on the pay phone in the cafeteria to my mom and went home from school early that day. In hindsight, I have no idea why I was so hysterically upset. I didn't know anyone who was affected. The only explanation I have is that some part deep inside of me was horrified by this devastating demonstration of the sinfulness of man and the brokenness of this world. As many have said, I knew our world would never be the same.

For me, ten years later, it's hard to look back and feel positive about where we have been since that terrible day. We are fighting two wars, the plagues of racism and prejudice were reignited in our country, and there's no end in sight. How is all of this going to play out in the next ten years and the ten years after that as my son grows? Sometimes I really wonder what kind of world I have brought him into.

Thankfully, though, I do have hope. Because I believe in a God who has promised to redeem the world, to pull us out of the sinfulness and brokenness we live in and make all things new. At the end of the day, I have this:

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
- Psalm 27: 13-14

I don't do enough waiting for the Lord. Most of the time my life is pretty good and I'm okay here. But days like today make me so grateful that this world is my temporary home, make me so grateful that there is something greater out there, and make me so grateful that I am and always will be a part of the glorious kingdom of God.