Nineteen years ago, on this day, our world changed. I read the devotional I wrote that day and was amazed at how applicable it is to what our country is going through now with the racial divide that still exists in this country. I share that devotion with you now.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

                                                                        Hebrews 13:8

Tonight, I'm going to bed in a world very different from the one I woke up in this morning.

We work very hard to make the world a better place for our children to live, and we like to believe that we have done that.  But tonight when I prayed for my son who is almost a teenager, and when I stood and watched my two little girls sleep, for the first time I wasn't so sure we have done very much to make the world they will inherit better than the one we inherited.  I'm not sure the sense of security and hope we are giving them is anywhere near the security and hope we felt when we laid down our heads as children at night.

I truly wish I could change that.  I wish I had some magic words of reasoning so I could give a commentary to help everyone understand what happened today and how the world has changed.  But I don't.  I wish I had the power of a skillful pen to produce some great essay on the evil we looked square in the face today and could explain why it happened.  But I don't have that gift.  I wish I possessed the power of oratory brilliance that would move people and stir their hearts and motivate their actions to change the world around us.  But I'm afraid I don't have that gift either.

So where can I find security for the children of tomorrow?  Where can I find hope?  In one place.  All I can do is simply offer the only thing I have left that I really know for sure.  In the midst of our world which has changed so drastically, I'll offer the one thing that never changes: the love of God.  You see, no matter how much the world around us changes, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."  And in that is all the hope and security we will ever need.

Pray.  Pray for those hurt or killed in the events of September 11, 2001.  Pray for their families.  Pray for those who perpetrated this act.  Pray for our communities and our country and our world.

But most of all, pray for our children, that in Christ they can find the security and hope that makes tomorrow a dream that a child can still cling to.  And then do something about it.  Remind them about Christ, teach them about His dream.  And then pray for the one thing that will make their dreams of tomorrow a reality:  peace.

I am praying with you.

“Father, Help us to live together as one world, in peace and in love, and in Jesus’ name. AMEN.”