September 11, 2013

As I was walking to class this morning, I saw this and my breath caught.

This is made out of small american flags. That's my favorite part. 

Everyone likes to share their story about 9-11-2001, so here's mine:

I was six. I don't remember it. 

I used to watch a show with my family called 24. The show was all about terrorism and a man who did whatever it took to stop terrorist acts from happening. 

What I do remember is just a few years ago realizing that what happened on that day 12 years ago was a terrorist act. That people from another country made an intentional decision to put a painful dent in America by destroying lives and property. That what I thought was purely fiction in a T.V. show actually occurred in my lifetime. 

I also very vividly remember a video that I saw of people desperately jumping out of the windows of a skyscraper, and not just one or two but hundreds. 

And my heart broke.

I think that on that day, and everyday after, the resounding question is "WHY?"

Why did this happen? How could it have happened? We're AMERICA for crying out loud. Why did this happen to a country that is supposedly a nation 'under God'?

I wonder why too, and I don't know the answer.

But I do know that the Lord allowed it to happen. 

And I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is good. 

While my heart is burdened for the lives that were lost and the families they belonged to, my heart rejoices that when things like this happen in day-to-day life I have a solid Rock on which I can stand. 

I have a sovereign God who is all powerful, all-knowing, and loves me unconditionally and sacrificially. 

And how do I know this, you ask?

Because Jesus Christ left the glory of heaven to come to this worthless earth where He lived a perfect life that I could never live, and then died the death and took on the full wrath of God, His Father, that I so greatly deserve. He did this for me. And then, three days later, He rose from the dead, defeating sin and death and making a way for me to live in Him and with Him for eternity. 

I know that God is good because He sent His one and only Son to die for my sins. 

I know that God is good because I have seen Him work all things together for my good, for His glory. 

I know that God is good, that He can be trusted, that He is faithful. 

And because of that, I can praise Him in the storm, both the ones that have been, and the ones yet to come.

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

-Romans 8:32