War

I was at work when I first heard the news. Someone said the television was on in the conference room so I went to have a look. Oh my goodness.

The second plane hadn't hit yet. Everyone was thinking it was just a terrible accident that we were witnessing. Then the second plane came into view and it hit the second tower.

Okay, what is going on? It slowly began to sink in that this was intentional. And after that, all of our lives changed. We never looked at ANYTHING the same after the events of that day.

I was not a Christian back then. That would happen five years down the road. But 9/11 was the beginning of the realization that we were living in a world that was at war. A spiritual war. And we had just been attacked.

It doesn't matter where we were. It doesn't matter who the people were who attacked us. What matters is we ARE at war. Whether we want this war or not is irrelevant. We have it. The question is, how will we respond?

First, we must respond with prayer. Praying for the innocent victims of that horrible day, pray for the fire responders who, even today, are losing their lives from the carcinogens they inhaled that day. But pray also for our enemies. Jesus commanded us to do that in Matthew 5:44b. But most of all realize that we are now at war against an unseen enemy. We must stand tall in God's army. We will prevail. But only if we follow the orders handed down by our King. That we must stand and that we must love one another.

"10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." - Ephesians 6:10-17

As I type this I hear thunder in the distance. That tells me a storm is coming. The events of 9/11 were the thunder of a coming storm in this country. How will we prepare?

Budweiser 9/11 Ad