Let Us Never Forget September 11, 2001

25 years. That’s how long it’s been since the United States was attacked by Islamic terrorists, and the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed in a heap of rubble.

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives on September 11, 2001—2,977 to be exact. Over 400 of them were first responders who bravely chose to risk their lives, running in while everyone else was running out.

Other targets were hit as well. 184 people lost their lives at the Pentagon, while 40 lost their lives aboard Flight 93.

The images of people jumping to their deaths as the building burned behind them are etched indelibly in our minds. For those of us across the nation who experienced it in real time, unfolding on our TV sets, it was a day of deep and profound mourning.

What I Saw at the World Trade Center Two Days After the Attack

Just two days after the attack, I was on site at the World Trade Center. The smoke was still rising from the smoldering ruins. A makeshift cross had been erected in the midst of it. There was shrapnel in the buildings around it. And on the walls were posters with images of missing people. Sadness permeated everything.

You don’t realize the massive footprint of the World Trade Center until you walk through that site.

We fed people there and supported the work of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which had set up booths throughout New York City, offering prayer.

The city was shaken, and it was a unique moment spiritually—for them, for the nation, and for the world.

How 9/11 Led to a Unique Spiritual Moment

I remember preaching in a church in New York that week. Firefighters, still wearing their gear, attended. They were fed a beautiful meal, and I delivered an evangelistic message.

I will never forget a whole group of them coming forward and bowing their heads in prayer to accept Christ into their lives.

On street corners in neighborhoods across America, there were packed churches and prayer vigils. Members of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol and spontaneously sang “God Bless America”—that very evening, just hours after the attacks! It was a moment of unity born out of tragedy.

Stories of Sacrifice

One story of heroism happened aboard Flight 93, one of the planes that was hijacked. Realizing this plane was targeting a building in Washington, D.C., the passengers, including a man named Todd Beamer, decided to act. Beamer spoke by phone with a GTE operator named Lisa Jefferson; they recited the Lord’s Prayer together, and his last words were, “Let’s roll.”

He and the other passengers stormed the cockpit and overpowered the hijackers. The plane never reached its intended target—believed to be the U.S. Capitol—but instead crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Let’s never forget the sacrifices of people like Todd Beamer, the first responders, and, of course, the members of our military who hunted these wicked terrorists down.

These courageous Americans made the ultimate sacrifice. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13 NKJV).

Life Is Short

In reality, a whole generation was not alive when this happened. For them, 9/11 isn’t a memory. It’s a paragraph in a history book, filed away next to Pearl Harbor or the assassination of JFK. They never felt the ground shake, never watched the towers fall live on television, never stood in a packed church that Sunday alongside strangers who suddenly wanted to talk about God.

Here’s the truth behind September 11, 2001: life is short, God is real, and eternity is close.

Todd Beamer didn’t know that morning would be his last. None of those 2,977 people did. That’s what our whole country had to confront for a while: life is fragile, and none of us are promised tomorrow. But truth doesn’t expire after 25 years. It’s just as true today as it was that Tuesday morning. You and I don’t know how many days we have either.

The country turned to God for a season after 9/11. Churches filled up. Then, gradually, most of them emptied back out. That’s the danger with anniversaries, we can light a candle, observe a moment of silence, feel something for an afternoon, and go right back to living like we’ll live forever.

The question for us today isn’t just whether we’ll remember what the heroes of 9/11 did. It’s whether we’ll do something with the time we have left, before we’re the ones out of time.