Eight Years Later

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10 (NRSV)

Eight years ago today, my wife and I watched, along with the rest of the nation, as terrorists destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center, only twenty miles or so from our home.  It was only later that we realized we had witnessed the deaths of two members of our congregation, along with thousands of others including those on the hijacked airliners and in the Pentegon.  Not only people died on that day.  Those towers were chosen because they represented the financial strength of our nation.  Their destruction, accomplished with such ease and at so little cost, shook the sense of security that so many had placed in the things of this world.

As the towers crumbled, I remembered a Scripture chorus we sometimes sing in worship.  “The name of the Lord is a strong tower.  The righteous run into it and they are saved.”

Eight years later, let’s remember that neither military might nor financial strength can make us secure – only the eternal refuge of our mighty God.

RIP Alvin Kapplemann and Kermit Anderson