Remembering September 11th

I wrote this two years ago on the five-year anniversary:

I can't believe that it has been five years since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday, and other times--when I think of how much has happened since then--it seems like a million years ago.

I remember that Tuesday morning so vividly. I was working at Samaritan's Purse in Boone, North Carolina. I had walked something over to the Operation Christmas Child department, which was in another building. When I got there, I couldn't find anyone at their desks. I thought that perhaps a departmental meeting was taking place, so I went back to the communications department, where I worked. When I got there, I remember Kristin telling me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. At that time, we didn't know the extent of what was going on. I remember going to the broadcast department, standing in one of the back rooms, watching the television coverage. We had no idea what we would see unfold on the screen.

A little while later, a group of us had convened in Jim's office. (Jim was my boss and the director of communications). We were all watching the television in disbelief. When the first tower fell, we weren't sure what we were seeing. There was so much dust and debris, etc., that just looking, watching on television, it was unclear that the building had collapsed. I remember thinking that it was gone--as I imagine everyone else probably was thinking and didn't want to verbalize that thought. Someone finally did, though, and it was true. When the other tower collapsed, there was no denying what had happened. I remember watching the masses of people walking out of Manhattan. It was like a strange scene out of some movie. But it was real.

Then there were the other reports. The Pentagon. The United 93 crash in Pennsylvania. It was unreal. All air traffic grounded. We were waiting to find out what would happen next. It was very unsettling.

All employees received an e-mail from Franklin Graham's office that the entire staff would meet on the ministry lawn to pray for our country and for the victims. Franklin spoke to the staff, and then we divided up into groups to pray.

Samaritan's Purse would deploy a team to help in New York within the week. My friend Lori was on the initial team, as were Sam and a few friends. I had no idea that I would be going to New York myself in just a couple of weeks (after my niece Rebekah was born (on September 21)).

Before I left, I remember ordering shirts for the New York teams as well as placing ads in the New York Times and other publications to advertise the Billy Graham New York Prayer Center. (I remember that one purchase order I typed up for the New York Times cost more than the annual advertising budget, and it required approval from Franklin himself.)

I had always wanted to go to New York ... but I never thought it would be under those circumstances. I was there to work in the Billy Graham NY Prayer Center and to offer public-relations support, etc. While I was there, I worked with an AP reporter who covered what the ministries of SP and BGEA were doing, and I also hired a photographer and worked with him and his wife to get the shots the communications department needed. Franklin visited while I was there, and we had a lot of work to do to prepare and to arrange for that. We also attended a memorial service for a fireman who was killed. At that time, they were advertising the funerals and asking the public to attend because there were so many. We also did some street ministry near Ground Zero.

I remember seeing in person so much of what I had seen on television. The missing-person posters. Police officers and firemen. Ground zero. I remember that all streets below Canal Street were closed to traffic, and there was an eerie feeling walking down there. Then there was a smell. The smell of Ground Zero. It was a kind of burning/electrical smell. You could taste it. Everything was so dusty.

When Tanna and I were at Ground Zero over the holidays two years later, it was so different. The debris had been cleared, and plans were being made for the future of the property. I remember seeing stores near there that had been closed and their windows full of dust, etc. It was sad to think about everything that had happened there ... but at the same time, it was refreshing to know that life does go on. Though we will never forget.

written 09.11.2006