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“Do We Remember?” Do we remember just how small we became that day? The brevity and uncertainty of life hit home that day. When the coroner of Somerset County arrived at the final resting place of United Airlines Flight 93 in that Pennsylvania field he theorized that those on board the plane had been “vaporized” in their deaths. He soberly reflected, “I realized that we did not need a coroner we needed a funeral director.” When I read this, I immediately thought of James' words that “life is vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (4:14). Do we still remember or have we forgotten just how perilous life can be? Do we remember how patriotic we became that day? Incredibly people started flying their flags, decaling their vehicles, and wearing lapel pins of American flags. We swelled with pride in the red, white and blue. Do you remember Pat Tillman? He epitomized the American spirit. He gave up a multi-million dollar salary with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals to join the military and defend his country. In the hills of Afghanistan he gave the ultimate sacrifice of his life. How many young men and women continue to fall today in the streets of Iraq protecting us and defending the country that they love? Do we remember that “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Ps. 33:12) and that “sin is a reproach to any people” (Pro. 14:34)? Do we remember how dependent upon each other we became that day? As with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, America galvanized because of these attacks. We pulled together and helped each other through a difficult time. Solomon was right “two are better than one” (Eccl. 4:9) Alan Jackson's ballad “Do You Remember” reminded us of how dear family and friends could be during horrible and scary times like these. Do we remember just how important people became to us or have we gone back to biting and devouring each other? Do we remember how important God became that day? People who were not even religious became religious; people who never pray began to pray; people made promises to God they never dreamed they would make. But how many of those promises have been broken and how quickly did we forget God when the smoke finally cleared? David said after he had survived Saul's repeated threats to kill him, “The Lord is my Rock” (2 Sam. 22:2; Ps. 18:2). When Clark and Bobbie Benton boarded Com Air Flight 5191 at the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, they never dreamed that the plane would attempt to take off from the wrong runway and crash killing everyone on board except the co-pilot. But they had made preparations for something like this long before this morning dawned. Both Clark and Bobbie were faithful members of the Lord's church. According to their preacher, they were both the “kind of Christians we all hope to one day be.” They simply had never forgotten how important God was in their lives. Do we still remember? |