9/11/2011

Our orientation with One Mission Society begins tomorrow morning.  Melissa and I will be alternating days to drive to Greenwood.  I will be missing school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and she will miss Tuesday and Thursday.  This will be one of those weeks when we will be meeting each other coming and going.

I had hopes of having finished up my posting of pictures from our July Haiti trip before orientation began, but no chance now.  There are just a few left, but they are deserving of some thoughtful commentary and I'm too tired to do anything more tonight.  I spent the evening at school getting prepared for a substitute tomorrow and now the weekend is done.

But I didn't want this day to pass without stopping to reflect on the anniversary of 9/11.  To me, September 11th will always be first and foremost my Dad's birthday.  We didn't know it at the time, but that 9/11 would prove to be the last birthday of his life.  I've spent a lot of time in the past nine and a half years wishing my kids would be growing up knowing their Grandpa. 

Ten years ago today, Melissa and I were living in Pensacola, Florida and I was working as a youth pastor - which meant I was maintaining youth ministry working hours (afternoon and evening work and sleeping in during the morning).  For some reason, I was up first with our newborn Dats and Melissa was still in bed.  I put Dats in the baby swing and turned on the TV just after the first plane had crashed into the Towers.  They had live footage going and were speculating on what the cause was.  I ran in to tell Melissa what had happened and got back to the TV in time to see the second plane hit.  The image that is seared into my mind is the extreme juxtaposition of our 4 month old swinging, cooing and smiling as the TV carried images of death and destruction.  Innocence and evil.

I felt sick deep inside, not only for all the people directly affected, but also for Dats.  What kind of world had we brought him into?  How dark would his future be?  How much would the day's events alter our way of life as a nation and as a family?

Ten years later, Dats is a healthy, smart, energetic boy who had some questions today about the events of 9/11, but mainly just went about his business.  He's hitting the age where it's becoming harder and harder to shelter him from the evils of this world (big and small) and to preserve his innocence.  I just hope that as he becomes more and more aware of the darkness, his innocence is not replaced with despair but with a courage and a conviction to carry The Light into the darkness. 

That's my prayer for him, his three younger siblings, Melissa, myself and you...