Yesterday was the eighth anniversary of the suicide attacks on The United States. It’s a haunting feeling to live through the day of an anniversary of a tragedy. I drove past the Brainerd Fire Station and they had all of the fire trucks parked in front of the building, shiny and gleaming in the sun. They had the ladder on the ladder truck extended to high heaven, with a huge American flag flying from it. I got choked up. Then I started to rethink that day. I was at work at The Office Shop and we found out via the internet. Unbelief. We turned on the tv in the conference room. More unbelief. It was hard to work, we tried to pretend to work. It was a fake effort. I don’t think we sold a single pen or paperclip that day. We didn’t want to do anything, and any customer we called, didn’t want to do anything either. Unbelief. It was a numb feeling. Although none of us personally knew anyone in the areas hit by the planes, we still were numb. I still cannot believe so many lost their lives. You just pray for a lack of suffering. God was present that day, so many stories emerged about God at work.
I had a different feeling the day of the Luby’s Massacre in Killeen, Texas. The tragedy was more personal. On October 16, 1991, I was living in Killeen, Texas. I worked in a business office for a chain of stores, and we planned on taking our boss to lunch for Bosses Day. We were going to take him to Luby’s, but he was late. We heard there had been a shooting at Luby’s. We were supposed to be there. God had intervened. We finished the day working, not knowing how tragic the event was. I found out more on the way home. Al was doing some advanced military training in Alabama, so I tried to call him to let him know I was ok. No phone lines available. I tried to call my mom. No phone lines available, they were jammed with the huge amount of phone traffic. When I finally got through on a line, it was to my mom. It was the same time the 6 o’clock news came on…. my first views of the day’s events. I broke down on my mom’s answering machine…. “Mom, I’m ok. It’s just horrible……(crying, sobbing)” She had no idea what was going on when she heard the message 4 hours later, until she watched the news. Later that evening, I was able to leave a message with the CQ (charge of quarters) where Al was going to school. The message was “Tell Al his wife is ok.” Simple enough. No one could mess up that message. Nope. The message was too simple. The CQ didn’t bother to tell Al. Three days later I was finally able to talk to Al. I told him I had left a message. When questioned, the CQ said he did get the message, but didn’t think it was important enough to tell Al. It was then explained to the CQ that his wife lives in Killeen, and asked the CQ if he knew what had just happened in Killeen……. The simple message was not so simple any longer. To this day, I feel for the lives lost that day, and the lives changed by a man who never gave a clue to his reason for the day.
I sat on the floor of our tiny rented house. It was an old farm house in Germany. I was in front of the tv with the volume on low, and blow drying my hair. I couldn’t believe was I saw, so I quickly turned off the dryer and turned up the volume. The United States bombed Libya…… I ran upstairs to wake Al. At the same time, the phone rang. The Americans we being called to base, and Al was on Red Alert. The operation lasted only a few minutes, and by the end of the day, we went home to our own beds. All was done. The muscle was flexed. I don’t think anyone living in “The States” even knew anything happened on April 15, 1986.
I had started to pack my suitcases. Just a couple of days till I was on a plane to Germany. Al had found a house and I could finally join him. The tv was on and I was getting ready for the day. I had stayed up late reading. I had acclimated myself to the time change, so I would stay up half the night reading, and sleep almost until noon. I was about to move to Germany to be with my husband. The buzz on the tv was focused on the teacher that was going into space. The Challenger space shuttle launched on January 28, 1986. I was watching the launch, then stared in disbelief as it exploded before my eyes. It’s not supposed to do that. My thoughts for the rest of the day flipped between the shuttle member’s families left behind and whether I would still be able to fly in two days. What if there was debris in the sky we couldn’t fly through…. (I know stupid thought).
So much can happen in just an instant. God is in control. I know that whatever may happen, God is with me. And I know that should something happen to me, God will call my name and I will be with Him.
Because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:5b-6
PICKING DAISIES 