"Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?"

I’m a boomer.  Not the Cold War submarine or Islamic terrorist type, but a post–World War II baby boom person -- born between the years 1946 and 1964 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  Growing up as a boomer, the adults in our lives used the assassination of JFK as an event that no one could forget where they were when they first got the news.

For boomers, that unforgettable event was 9/11.  Sadly, many of the boomers saw the second plane slam into the second tower on live TV.  Of course, that wasn’t the end of it -- the twin towers were followed by the Pentagon and Flight 93 plowing into that Pennsylvania field.

Georgia-native and country music artist, Alan Jackson wrote a great song shortly after the tragic events of that day – musically asking the question, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?"

Well, it’s been 15 years and I’m certain that for those of us of a “certain age” we can still clearly recall the answer to Alan’s question.  Yes, the incidents of that day, brought to our shores by Islamic terrorists were terrible, but what makes the day so memorable?  Why can we remember where we were?

Was it the fact that well-educated, Muslim men, most from Saudi Arabia, took objects of America’s global prominence, i.e. large passenger aircraft, turned them into flying torpedoes, and used them to destroy other objects of our global prominence, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?  What kind of sick religion can produce adherents that attain martyrdom in destroying buildings packed with peaceful employees?  

Was it the sheer senselessness of the events of that day?  People forced to decide between leaping to their death and being incinerated in their own office.  Massive buildings reduced to rubble. 

Was it the courage of the first-responders that selflessly went into those burning buildings to try to help?  They took their training and their chances as they went to the aid of their fellow man.  Compare that to the terrorists who took flight training so they could visit tragedy on the twin towers.   

It has been 15 years since the events of that day and our Nation’s ability to attain moral clarity is more muddled than ever.  We now have a president who sees us (conservatives and this country) as the problem.  There is confusion about the meaning of marriage and the inability to distinguish between man and woman.  When it comes to college, our dear leaders think illegal aliens deserve in-state tuition rates – charging a fellow citizen from a neighboring state more than a student that illegally came from another country.  No wonder they hate us – we’re stupid.

Let’s quickly take stock of the last 15 years and look forward to the next 15 years.  Our nation is at a crossroads.  Fifteen years of war and nothing to show for it but monuments of marble, mentally and physically scarred veterans, a mountain of debt, and a bitterly divided nation.  Most recently, we’ve seen multi-million dollar football players who will not even stand for the national anthem.

Twenty-five percent of Americans alive today aren’t even old enough to remember the events of 9/11.  The liberals aren’t smart enough to remember what happened on 9/11.  Obama may want to empty GTMO, bail from Afghanistan and blame America, but the ideology of radical Islam is anything but done.  

If the radical Islamic terrorists had complete freedom, there’d be one-hundred more 9/11s.  If ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab or countless other radical Islamic groups had their way, there’d be dirty bombs and disaster delivered on our nation daily.  If Islam had its way, every American infidel would be forced to convert, pay tribute (jizya), or die.

What if Jesus Christ had His way?  His desire is for people to find salvation and eternal life in Him.  In the Gospel of John Jesus put it this way, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep…”  Jesus offers an entirely different program than jizya or jihad.

That Alan Jackson song that asked, “Where were you” eventually topped the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart for five weeks and earned Jackson a Grammy Award for Best Country Song.  The chorus to that song reminds us of the only enduring hope there is:  

“I'm just a singer of simple songs.  I'm not a real political man.

 I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran.  

But I know Jesus and I talk to God, and I remember this from when I was young. 

Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us, and the greatest is love.”