5My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.6He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.7In God is my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God.8Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.
This is the 12th anniversary of the dreadful day of 9/11, and we remember those who perished in and around the twin towers, at the Pentagon, and in a Pennsylvania field that day. We also think about the 4 Americans who lost their lives in Benghazi, Libya this time last year. And, we have sent soldiers into harm's way in order to retaliate for the unprecedented attack on this great country.
We remember the dead and rejoice with the living, for there are numerous survivor stories that have been used to point people to God - people were calling on God that day in the midst of the devastation, and we know that the Lord is a faithful, ever-present help in time of trouble, if we would only call upon Him. And, we reflect on the lessons that we can learn - we know that trials come, that we will be beset by crises, but in the fire of affliction, our faith can sustain us. On 9/11, may we as a nation be challenged to consider the principles of the Scriptures and call upon our great God.
The Bible tells us that we have been delivered by Christ into a life that reflects His nature and glory, and according to 1st Peter chapter 1, we are...
kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,7that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
On Sept. 11, 2001, Sujo John was working on the 81st floor in World Trade Center Tower 1 when American Airlines Flight 11 tore through his building. He escaped after several hours, but the terror of the day was magnified by the fact that his pregnant wife's office was in Tower 2.
According to a story on CBN.com, John had barely begun his workday on the 81st floor when he heard a loud explosion. As flames penetrated the floor and building swayed, John frantically made calls to his wife, Mary, to no avail. The good news that he didn't know was that Mary had not been able to enter the building, because she arrived just after the plane hit her building.
Mary and John were both praying. Her prayer went like this:
"One of my prayers was, 'Lord if you help him out of that building, by some chance he's able to make it out, then I'm ready to give up everything we have right now, our jobs, whatever else we have,'" she said. "'We'll go to a third world country, we'll serve you for the rest of our lives.'"As John and thousands of others began to reach the lower floors of Tower 1, Tower 2 began to collapse, forcing John to stand against the wall and huddle with about 20 other people.
In that moment John said he was prompted to do something that he'd never done before.
"I felt the Lord was saying, 'Where are these people that are huddled with you going?' And I started crying out 'Jesus!'" John recalled. "I wasn't sure what I was to expect... Almost immediately these people started [to call] upon the name of the Lord."
"Imagine this building going down, tremendous roar of the building going down," he continued. "But for me what is etched in my mind is not really the roar of the building going down, but the cry of these people reaching out to the eternal God." He said that he realized, "That experience showed me that people are ready for God."
After he was rescued from the debris, he received a call from Mary - the first call that had come through that day.
Since those frightening hours in 2001, the couple have been traveling the world sharing their incredible story of survival. The effort has turned into a full-time ministry, with more than 30,000 disciples for Christ.
"God has taken us to more than 400 cities around the world where I've travelled with the greatest story ever told for God who offers his un-conditional, irrational love upon His people," John said.
There are plenty of stories of survival from 9-11, and on the show today, you'll hear from the man who was signed up to pilot Flight 11, who was bumped by another pilot at the last minute.
Most of us will never forget that day - and while many question why 3000 people died and a nation was fractured forever, we also recognize that in the midst of the rubble, people were calling upon God. In a moment of extreme crisis, the name above every name was being called out - not all were saved; that's just the nature of living in a fallen world, but there are people alive today because the Lord intervened in their lives.
Sujo John said that people are ready for God, and now has seen thousands be transformed by his ministry. The question for us is, first of all, where do we turn in a time of crisis? When the personal towers of our lives begin to fall, do we call on God first or do we try to rely on our own strength and work it out ourselves - or will desperation drive us to our knees? And, if we believe that a time of tragedy or trouble will force people to look for answers, perhaps just standing or sitting beside someone in their time of crisis can be a powerful witness to the love of the Lord. And, we can always be ready to point people to the true answer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is able to rescue and to give them to the power to face their struggles with faith and hope.
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