The day the Lord has made!

"This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 119:24

Today is September 11, 2012

Almost all of us, over about the age of 16 remember where we were, what we were doing and who we were  with when we heard about the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

I was a flight attendant with America West Airlines and I happened to have the day off.  Less than 2 weeks earlier I had moved and was living with a new roommate, in the townhouse she owned.  My roommate (Kristina) was also a flight attendant and we were both accustomed to working red-eye flights and going to bed at odd hours, even on our days off so when the phone rang very early (probably around 6:30) I didn't get out of bed to answer it.  Because I knew by the distinctive ring that the call was from one of my roommate's friends or family I stayed in bed wondering who would call her on our home phone this early, knowing we were day sleepers and rolled back over to get more sleep before having to start my day.

I don't know how long it was after the phone rang, but at some point afterwards Kristina opened my bedroom door and woke me up by saying, "There's been a terrorist attack on U.S. soil".   "Huh?" Her words registered, but it sounded so foreign and so far out of anything I'd ever considered that it took me a few minutes, plus I had just woken up after only having a couple of hours sleep so I spent a moment trying to shake off the sleep and attempt to comprehend what she'd just told me.

The phone call I'd ignored was Kristina's dad telling her to turn on the news.  We didn't have cable, and the only TV in our house was upstairs in her loft bedroom so we spent the next several hours watching TV while fielding phone calls from concerned friends and family wanting to find out if we were home or if we were working.  While we fielded phone calls on our cell phones and our home phone we also were making outgoing phone calls to check on our friends who also worked in the industry.  At one point I looked at the date on my phone and saw it was 9-11.  Weird.

Kristina had a guy friend (who is now her husband and theirs was the wedding I'd attended the night I met my husband) who landed at Boston's Logan airport just as American Flight 11 was taxiing down the runway for it's doomed flight.

As Kristina and I sat on her bed while news reporters tried to make sense of the attacks Kristina and I knew  what nobody else was saying: We KNEW the pilots were dead, and were not in control of their aircraft, when those planes hit their targets.   Having worked in the airline industry for 3 years we knew that there was NO WAY the pilots would've crashed the planes into those buildings while they were alive.   We knew, even with a gun to their head, the pilots would've crashed their aircraft into the Hudson before killing innocents on the ground.

As the reports came in about United 93 our first reaction was that the pilots had taken it down in an effort to save lives on the ground because we'd learned a few things about pilots in our day and we KNEW there wasn't a pilot out there who would commit these heinous acts, even under duress.

As the day progressed we knew our loved ones were on the ground and we had to continue living in the real world. (As an aside, I remember going to Wal-Mart at 9:30 that night to buy a toothbrush and feeling guilty for doing something so routine on such a horrific day when so many people had lost their lives.)

If I remember correctly Kristina had a dentist appointment.  I was scheduled to work at my part-time job at a Christian bookstore.   Two things from my afternoon shift stand out to me.  I remember talking with people about how the world changed that day for all of us and I remember saying, "No.  The world didn't change.  Our perception of the world has changed.  The world has always been an evil, fallen place.  The only thing that's changed is we thought we were immune to these problems that happen in other places"

I also remember ringing up a lady's purchases and as I placed her items in the bag I noticed one of the things she had bought was a plaque with Psalm 118: 24 on it "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  In that moment I felt God speaking to me and reminding me that even on a day as dark as that one He is still God and He is still in control.  Regardless of my circumstances He is still God, He is still in control and every day is a day He has made.   Evil may seem to take over, but God is still God.

For the past 11 years every time I see that verse I am reminded of that moment and God's message to me.  No matter what circumstances you're facing right now remember that today is the day the LORD has made and we are to rejoice and be glad in it.