Yesterday was September 10^th, the day that looks forward.

Today is September 11^th, the day Americans look back, a day that changed our lives.

To the Jewish community, September 10^th commemorates Rosh Hashanah, the Festival of Trumpets, the season of remembrance as outlined in The Book of Leviticus. This day begins with the blowing of the shofar (often thought to be a ram’s horn) calling all Jews to honestly look at the year behind them and to draw closer to God in the year ahead.

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, a day that enters a serious time, the Ten Days of Repentance. These ten days lead from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Calendar days, but more. These are the annual days when Jews are to draw closer to God, to seek His help, to wake up and return to God, and to step into a new beginning with God.

“To repent” can be described this way:  two individuals are traveling on a roadway, going in opposite directions. As they pass, one asks the other, “Am I going the right way,” to which the other replies, “No, you need to repent,” meaning, you need to do a U-turn. You need to stop going the way you are going, fully turn, and begin walking in a whole new direction. The Lord Jesus came for this very reason, providing through His death on the cross an invitation for humanity (for each one of us) to wake up spiritually, to examine our lives, to turn toward God, and to begin anew.

Yesterday was September 10^th, the day that looks forward.

Today is September 11^th, the day Americans look back, a day that changed our lives. The horror that took place will remain fixed in our memories, even now, twenty-five years later. We will never forget where we were when we saw projected on television, the sight of those hijacked airplanes slamming into both towers of the World Trade Center. We will not soon forget those individuals who surrounded us. For me, it was a classroom of students, and I will not soon forget a young man sitting centermost in the classroom whose face suddenly turned ashen color. I walked down the center aisle and whispered, “Matt, are you alright?”  I will not ever forget his return whisper, “My parents are there.”

This day changed my life forever, one that propelled the one I chose to do life with to raise his hand, to promise and to commission himself to serve our country. For the next twenty-two years, he served through military deployments, an injury requiring surgery, and time lost with his family. Today, on this day of The Remembrance of 9-11, our daughter sent him a message saying, “Days like today remind me of you. I love you Dad, and I’m proud to be your daughter.”

As I read her message, a warmth spread over me, and quickly, my mind turned to our God. We who call God our Father speak similar words: “We love You, God, and we are so grateful to be called Your sons and daughters, Your children.”

Someday soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will return for God’s children. The trumpet will sound, the Lord will descend from on high, and He will gather those who have chosen to place their faith and trust in Him.

Therefore, on this day of remembrance and during the Jewish High Holy Days of the Ten Days of Repentance that lead to the Day of Atonement:

• Let us allow ourselves to draw closer to God, to seek His help, to wake up and return to God, and to step into a new beginning with God.
• Let us repent, turning from the way we are walking to begin walking in a whole new direction. &
• Let us wake up spiritually, to examine our lives, to turn toward God, and to begin anew.

Thank You, Jesus, for making the way for us to repent.

Thank You, Jesus, for stretching out Your arms on the cross of Calvary, for dying for us. &

Thank You, Jesus, for promising us eternity shared in Your presence.