“10th Anniversary of 9/11”

In only a few weeks, America and the world will commemorate the 10th anniversary of the infamous day in which airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, triggering a global war against terrorism. The coming anniversary got me thinking, “How should we honor this anniversary?” It’s certainly not a joyous event so celebration is definitely out of the question. At the same time, this is a profoundly important event that has impacted each of our lives and deserves some sort of reflection and commemoration. So what can we New Heighters do on September 11th to honor the 10th anniversary of this event that has changed each of our lives in profound ways? Let me suggest a few ideas:
1) Reflect on 9/11 and the impact it has had on you as a person and how it has changed your life. Also reflect on the impact the events of this date had on our nation. What has God been trying to communicate to our nation through this event? Have we listened? If not, what does God want you to do to help our nation hear and obey what God is trying to tell us?
2) Pray for our nation’s churches – Many of us Christians were uplifted in the swell of church attendance after 9/11. The unchurched saw the events of 9/11 as a call from God to return to Him. Unfortunately, after several weeks, when life seemed to return to normal, the unchurched returned to normal also – not attending church. This saddens God profoundly. We need to pray that God will do whatever it takes to encourage people in America to join a church body and attend faithfully in the manner that the Bible commands us to do.
3) Pray for the families that lost loved ones in 9/11. This will be a difficult time for the thousands of families that will be remembering the loved ones who perished during this awful attack. They need our prayers for comfort and peace that can come only from God.
4) Remember those around the world who live with terrorism daily. There are Christian missionaries and others around the world, like the citizens of Israel, who face the threat of death and violence each day. Pray for their safety and for the Gospel to spread to these people who see violence and death as a means to their goals.
5) Use this as an opportunity to better understand Islam. Over one billion people in our world follow Islam. We have over 60,000 Somali immigrants living right here in the Twin Cities, most of whom are Muslim. Unfortunately, many of us know little about this religion. If we are going to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ and engage Muslim believers in dialogue, we must have a basic understanding of their religion and a strategy of how we can reach them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let’s make this anniversary of a horrible event an opportunity to be used by God to make an impact on the future of those we know and our nation!