9/11 my tribute

4 years ago...

I woke up early to meet a friend, he and I, both trying to get in shape, went for a run around the old Biola track just before the sun peaked over the eastern hills. Once we got a few laps under our belt, and felt worthy enough to justify a break, we walked off the track and into the fitness center for some cycling. We were hoping to change our world in more ways than one, but little did we know that our world was being changed.

As the morning attendant began to turn the radio on for our enjoyment we heard "Jamie and Danny" on star fm talking about planes and the world trade center. At first I thought it was a joke, that radio show was not known for its objectivity or integrity to say the least. I looked at Ryan and he looked at me. If they were right, this was the biggest thing to have happened in our lives so far, and definitely not one that we would soon forget much less anyone else.

I read many articles, and listened to many commentators at that time, and still to this day the most significant influence came from reading aloud an essay written by C.S. Lewis to my roommate at the time as we wondered how? Why? And what next?

The Essay entitled “Learning in War Time” can be found in the Weight of Glory and I would highly recommend that anyone read in order to realize that though things of huge importance knock at our door all the time, and yet it is the daily and the mundane, the familiar and the usual that shape our lives. Those rare occasions where Fate does ring our doorbell will shape the path we take, but what happens while we travel down that path is determined more so by who we are and what we routinely do out of our commitments, relationships, and duties.

4 years later…

As we wake up to the 12th of September and bear the weight of yet another terrorist threat, I for one will get up an hour earlier to bake some loaves of sourdough bread, to eat an average breakfast on my way to another busy day, hoping for the opportunity to contribute significantly to the extraordinary life that is before me. It may not sound like much but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

May God Bless America, may God bless the people in my life, and may God bless the life I live and the life I leave behind me as I blaze the trail at my feet.