That morning I was on my treadmill watching the news on TV. Suddenly the station switched programming with a news bulletin…
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This week marks another anniversary for that fateful day.
That particular morning…September 11… I was exercising on my treadmill and watching the news on TV. Suddenly the news switched to New York, and as I watched, two planes crashed into the Twin Towers buildings.
In a few minutes, the two 110-story buildings were engulfed in flames. People were jumping out of windows to their deaths as the buildings started to crumble. I stopped walking on the treadmill and like millions of others, I was glued to the TV all that day.
Over the next hour I watched, not believing what I was seeing. When both of the World Trade Center buildings were down, it was hard to see the rubble and debris through all the smoke that rose for days afterward.
In addition, a third plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. It was headed for the White House or the Capitol building (not known for sure which) in Washington, DC, and then a fourth plane crashed into the Pentagon.
The President (George W. Bush) was preparing to speak to a school in Sarasota, Florida, about his education program when he was told the news. He was rushed to Air Force One and for the rest of the day flew first to an Air Force base in Louisiana; then to the SAC Air Force Base in Omaha and finally back to Washington, DC. All was in chaos and we were at war - but against whom?
During those next few days of disarray, a construction worker discovered, in the rubble of the Twin Towers, what has become known as the Ground Zero Cross. There he found the twenty-foot, two-ton beam Cross standing above several other smaller crosses in a grotto-like setting.
Frank, the construction worker, said:
“I felt a strange peace in the stillness of the area around the cross. I could almost hear God saying, ‘The terrible thing done at this site was meant for evil. But I will turn it into good. Have faith, I am here.’”
A Father Brian said he had been asked by countless New Yorkers:
“Why did God do this?” He would reply tartly, in his Brooklyn-born accent, “It had nuttin’ to do with God. This was the actions of men who abused their free will.”
Here, at the Cross, was God explaining Himself. It was a revelation - proof that “God had not abandoned Ground Zero,” even as the awful excavations continued.
Firemen, policemen, grieving survivors, dignitaries, clergymen, fellow workers and others found the same healing affect from the Cross. Frank’s friend, Father Brian Jordan, was a Priest in New York, and he became the Chaplain at Ground Zero. When it was time to remove the wreckage surrounding the Cross, Father Jordan convinced officials that the Cross should be saved.
During the construction of the Freedom Tower - a replacement for the World Trade Center Twin Towers - the Cross was moved several times. Its journey also included a three-year legal battle with atheists who argued the Cross should be excluded from the Memorial that was being built.
The appellate decision found that the Constitution of the United States does not preclude [allows] the presence of the Ground Zero Cross within the National 9/11 Memorial Museum. Today the Cross rests in the 911 National Memorial Museum at the base of the Freedom Tower.
The Cross has been and continues to be a tremendous comfort to many and shows and reminds us how God is present in ALL circumstances.
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The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3 (NASB)
"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? "Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD. - Jeremiah 23:23-24 NASB
For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Isaiah 57:15 NASB
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If you have a story that you think might bless others, I invite you to send it by email to me (Kenneth Kersey) at godsotherways@me.com.
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