The sun beamed boldly through a blue-draped heaven
O’er the Hudson River on September Eleven
Shining down on marbled domes of Washington
And brass-buttoned coats at the Pentagon
Upon the gleam of a plane in the Somerset sky
Warming the earth where scores would die
Then hung in protest against a black-draped heaven
O’er the shocking silhouettes of September Eleven
The winds blew softly across a blue-draped heaven
Where flags flapped peacefully on September Eleven
A remnant of summer on the air still lay
As Americans awoke to a busy work day
Kisses of school kids still dampened the faces
Of mommies and daddies off to workplaces
Goodbyes and giggles swirled upward to heaven
Till swept by the inferno of September Eleven
September Eleven—O Woeful Day!
When a wounded nation knelt to pray
Though a trillion tears could ne’er erase
The blood-stained grief upon your face
Could these same tears make us whole?
With healing waters wash our soul?
Till we in hope should ere remember
The grace that held us all together
As we hand-in-hand across this land
With flags unfurled took our stand
In unity our brave voices rang
“God Bless America!” we boldly sang
O patriotic pride, Arise!
O gleam of glory, dry our eyes!
O Lord of light, shine forth from heaven
And lift us o’er September Eleven!
Sharon Hardy Knotts
September 2001 rev. September 2014. © 2015 Sharon Knotts. All rights Reserved.
We said that we would never forget that day; we would never forget the evil ones who perpetrated that horrible attack on our American soil and our American soul. In the months that followed 9/11, churches were filled on Sunday mornings. People’s hearts were stirred to turn to God for solace and direction. Patriotism was at an all-time high since the end of World War II. American flags waved proudly and boldly in public squares and private homes across the nation.
As personal stories trickled out from the horrible tragedies that almost 3000 victims and their families suffered, we grieved for their losses, while we rejoiced in every miraculous triumph that was interwoven with their stories like silver threads on black sackcloth. I personally cried every day for three weeks. I did not know one person who was in those twin towers that day, but my spirit was overwhelmed with a heaviness that would not lift. It was during this time this I penned the poem September 11, which we published on the cover of FIA in November 2001.
As the rubble was being searched for survivors, one rescue worker was searching a pit that had been shrouded in darkness the night before. Crawling into the pit, Frank Silecchia was astonished to see a steel beam, broken into the shape of a cross, standing up from the ground with a piece of cloth draped over it like a shroud. Lying on the ground near it were three more crosses. That steel was later identified as being from Tower One and had broken off and fallen upright as a perfect cross. Other rescue workers began coming to the pit to see the cross, and as they did, they found a peace in the midst of terror and the stench of death. The 17-foot-tall cross became an icon of hope and comfort throughout the recovery effort. This pit became known as God’s House. Today, the World Trade Center Cross is installed in the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
Now, 20 years later, the evil irony is that crosses across this nation have been torn down by those who protest Jesus Christ, the God who hung on a cross for all our sins, and His Christian followers. We have become their enemies while they celebrate the Islamic religion that spawned the terrorists who attacked us in the name of Allah. It was wrong to blame all Muslims living in America in 2001 for the terrorist attack in New York. But the pendulum has swung to the extreme opposite, and now their faith is protected while Christians’ is vilified. Tenets of Islam are being taught in our public schools, including quoting their prayers and girls wearing hijabs. In most cases, this is occurring without parental knowledge or permission. Inexplicably, this is sanctioned while any reference to Christianity is condemned and squashed, often with hateful intimidation.
And who would have thought the American flag, so reverenced 20 years ago, today would become the emblem of cursing and shame? That at the recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, American athletes would refuse to stand for the flag and the National Anthem, shaming us before the world?
Yesterday I watched 13 flag-draped caskets roll out of a military plane at Dover AFB—13 brave Americans killed in the terrorist bomb attack outside the Afghanistan airport as desperate Americans and our Afghan allies were trying to evacuate. Their sacrifices deserve to be honored—not cursed by Americans who have lost all respect for those who paid the ultimate price to preserve freedom here and abroad. Many of these protesters were not even born, or were infants and children, when 9/11 happened.
“There is a generation that curses their father and does not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up” (Proverbs 30:11-13).
If we could have seen 20 years ago, the things taking place in this generation today, we would have shaken our heads in disbelief. We would not have thought it possible to become so calloused to the ideals and godly principles that created this nation and have preserved her liberty. The rise of socialism by a foolish, self-seeking, spiritually-ignorant generation is threatening the very foundations of our American republic, and they have no idea what will happen if they prevail.
The Lord took me to these verses in Deuteronomy 32:28-29: “For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” (It is rare that you see an exclamation point in the Bible, so when you do, you should take special notice.)
That they would consider their latter end!
God said that their vine is the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are gall and their clusters are bitter, and their wine is the poison of asps. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons, gods whom they knew not, new gods, that came newly up. Of the Rock that begat them, they are unmindful and have forgotten God that formed them. And God said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very evil generation, children in whom is no faith” (vv.16-20, 32-34).
“O Lord of Light, shine forth from Heaven and lift us o’er this generation!”
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