Remembering 9-11
I don’t like to dwell on the past, but my church reminded me Sunday of the merits of remembrance. We took time in the morning service to solemnly watch a slide show of the happenings on the day of September 11th.
I don’t know how I happened to have my grandson on my lap this particular Sunday, but as he watched the images, he had about 400 questions.
He saw the towers, the planes, the fires, the destruction of the towers. His wide innocent eyes saw the Pentagon and recognized immediately that it was a different building than the towers. He saw the field in Pennsylvania and saw that bad stuff happened there too. He saw the firefighters, the heroes, he saw young and old going through agony.
He asked, “When did this happen?” Which I thought was an interesting question from a 4 year old, and I explained that it happened before he was born.
“Why did this happen?”
How to answer that one. This had no easy answer I thought. But it occurred to me that it CAN be broken down into simple terms for 4 year old mind.
“Evil, Silas. There is evil in the world.”
This was answer enough apparently.
He watched the rest of the slide show and I realized that I can’t leave him with just the evil part of this world.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
“ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4
