We Must Not Forget

It's that day again.  The anniversary of that awful day when planes flew into towers and our lives were forever changed.

I confess to a sense of apprehension every year when this day rolls around.  That is particularly true this year.  I'm never very comfortable when Al is in an airplane on this day, and today he's flying home from Las Vegas where he has spent the week taking a class on electrical codes.  I'm not sure why one has to go all the way to Las Vegas, of all places, to take a class on electrical codes, but I digress.

All across the country today there will be moments of silence and remembrance.  Prayers will be offered.  Flags will be flown.  Which is as it should be, because we must not forget.

We must not forget that we were attacked.  We must not forget that people died.  We must not forget the families and friends of those we lost that day.  For all of us, life changed on that day, but for those who knew someone personally, that change is even more real.

There's a sense in which it is impossible to forget.  Life changed on that day.  We are no longer quite so naïve as we once were.  We realized on that day that we are vulnerable.  That there are people out there who want to kill us.  We must not forget that.

We must remember September 11, 2001.

We must remember Benghazi.

We must remember. 

But even as we grieve those who died on those days.  As we find ourselves becoming apprehensive.  As we see the horrors being inflicted by ISIS, and we wonder what will happen next, there are some other things we must remember as well.

We must not forget that God is still God.

We must not forget that God is sovereign.  That God is in control.  That He has a plan and a purpose for all things.

"His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation......he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand."  (Daniel 4:34-35 ESV)

We must not forget.  No matter what has happened in the past.  No matter what is yet to come.  Because....

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea."  (Psalm 46:1-2 NASB, emphasis mine)