Sept 11

Pat Davids here.

I'm late posting this morning because I turned on the news when I got up and was riveted to the replay of the events of 9/11 that happened 11 years ago today. The news footage is as compelling today as it was back then.

I didn't have the TV on that morning. I was making coffee when the phone rang. It was my daughter. She said, "Mom, turn on the TV!" "What channel?" I asked. She said, "Any of them."

How right she was. I was spellbound then as I'm sure most people were by the images streaming into our home. I prayed that day as I have rarely prayed in my life for people I didn't know. All those strangers in harms way. To this very day I'm saddened by how cruel people can be to others, and I'm heartened by how heroic the ordinary person can become in the midst of overwhelming danger.

I'm a nurse, so I understood something of what was happening in the hospitals of New York. When my hospital called and asked if I would come in, I didn't hesitate. There was no danger out here in Wichita, but the airbase had gone on alert and the daycare there was being closed. One of our nurses had her daughter at that daycare. I took her place so she could go pick up her child. It took her three hours to get on base and hold her daughter safely in her arms.

I'm sure all of you will remember where you were and what you were doing on that fateful day. You can share those memories if you'd like or your thoughts about the aftermath of those events.

Today, on this anniversary, it's the right time to pray again for strangers in harms way, and for peace and tolerance among all peoples. The Lord God made every one of us and He doesn't make junk. We all have value in His sight.