Seven Years Later

Where were you seven years ago today? What were you doing? It may be nearly impossible to recall the details of your day. But if I asked you the same question tomorrow, I'm sure you would be able to pinpoint exactly where you were at and what you were doing.

I was sitting in Business Calculus as a freshman at UTSA when several students started talking about the first attack on the World Trade Center. As the hour unfolded and the footage was replayed over and over again I was overcome with a sense of sadness and emptiness.

While I was gathering around the news screens at school, my future husband was on the other side of the world stationed at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan. Since it was the middle of the night he was asleep, but then was soon awoken at 2:30 am and told to report to work.

September 11, 2001 is still so vivid in my mind. I can remember the uncertainty I felt and the worldwide awareness that I lacked. Little did I know that our nation was on the brink of a war that both my brother and future brother-in-law would be called to fight in. I am more proud of our military and soldiers today than I ever have been.

Alot has changed these past seven years and I can only suspect that more changes lie ahead. It seems as though each generation has had their "defining" moment with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the JFK assassination, and the attacks of 9/11. I hope and pray that there will be good defining moments for our nation in the years ahead. This is the first 9/11 anniversary that I have truly contemplated what the future holds. This is probably because we will have our little David in 3 short months from now, and then soon after that we will have a new president in office.

I don't know how to conclude this post, but I will end with Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see the works of the Lord,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.