Memorial Reflections

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.                            John 15:13

My wife and I recently took a trip to Philadelphia for a family wedding. Along the way, we decided to stop and visit some museums and monuments that are meaningful in American history. The Gettysburg, Pennsylvania battlefield is rich in the history and valor from the American Civil War. We also went through the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia, and finally, on the way home, we stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial site in Shanksville. Pennsylvania.

For those who may not be familiar with the Flight 93 Memorial site, it was the crash-landing site where a group of 40 brave passengers decided to give their lives to wrestle control of a terrorist hijacked airplane. The plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, interrupting the mission to do terrorist inspired harm in Washington D.C.

It became their grave.

In their brave actions, they may well have saved the U.S. Capitol and a joint session of Congress which was taking place on that fateful day- September 11, 2001. That plane was evidently headed to the U.S Capitol building. Of course, just an hour earlier, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C were attacked in the same manner- with hijacked airliners.

The memorial is very moving, and it includes the last recorded phone calls from the doomed passengers to their loved ones at home. The passengers and crew’s valor were demonstrated by their actions. Their phone messages to family members showed not only courage, but the love that caused them to take those bold actions.

I was struck by the words written in a letter posted at the memorial:

God chose our fields of Shanksville to lay you to rest. We’ll take care of you now. You are the heroes of all America now. This is our thanks. God bless the Crew and Passengers of Flight 93.

Signed- Sam and Coni Stevanus & Jeff Cooper,

Indian Lake

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the courage of those who give their lives for those they love, Amen