A Day You'll
Never Forget
September 9, 2002
Nobody who saw the horror of 9/11 will ever forget
the images of the jets slicing into the Twin Trade Towers and
the explosions that followed. Nor erase from their memory
television shots of the cavernous holes in the sides of the
buildings with the black smoke billowing out and up. Worst of
all--they'll never forget the jumpers in business suits (that
was somebody's husband, father, and son) and the surreal
collapse of the buildings that buried thousands beneath tons of
debris.
Throughout the day I sat riveted to my television
set. I could not imagine that anything good could possibly rise
from such ruin. And then I experienced the unexpected.
I heard the members of congress sing "God Bless
America." Not because they wanted to be seen doing it, but
because they recognized our country needed God's help. I saw
flags flying from bridges and fire trucks. I felt a love for my
country like never before.
In the months that followed I observed another
unexpected benefit of the terrorist attack. It might have
slipped by me without conscious attention had it not been for a
Peggy Noonan editorial that appeared in the New York Times. The
moment I read her words I knew she had given voice to a national
paradigm shift. Suddenly, she wrote, it's okay to be a man. Fire
fighters received applause for entering buildings filled with
smoke. Police officers felt a pat on the back for cuffing a
thief. Men with sweat on their brow and dirt on their faces and
shirts saw people nodding approval as they rode heavy equipment
like a cowboy on a horse.
Don't get me wrong. I believe we could all
strengthen our communication skills. And most guys need to be
more sensitive. However, since 9/11 it's okay to be a man.
I'm convinced God created men to be tougher than
their environment. God told Adam, the first man, to "subdue" the
earth and "rule over" all the creatures on land, in the air and
in the sea (Genesis 1:28). Obeying that command would require an
aggressive and tough man.
But that's only part of the story because it
involves man's role with the physical world--the part we can
see, hear, taste, touch and smell. But we are not just bodies
and minds. We are spiritual beings. In that dimension God placed
us in the middle of an angelic war between his angels of light
and Satan's army of darkness. Throughout the Bible men are urged
to fight the enemy, do battle, wage war, and endure. We haven't
been placed in the spiritual equivalent of Disneyland and told
to "have fun." By birth, we've entered a battlefield, and been
told to fight the good fight.
As you reflect on what happened a year ago--pray
for the families of the survivors. Pray for our country. Pray
for yourself and other Mighty Men. Ask God to enable each of us
to be the Mighty Man of God we've been called to be. The time
was never better for men who serve Jesus to serve with courage .
. . to serve as men. Perhaps the greatest memorial of 911 will
be the strength of your life as you lock arms with other men.
Ultimately, revival will come one man, one day at a time.
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