Have we forgotten?

Seven years seems like such a long time, doesn't it?

Seven years ago I lived in Maryland, just 20 minutes from D.C.

My youngest son is seven years old. He was just over nine weeks old when I woke up that morning and turned on the TV.

I NEVER watched the news that early in the morning.

And there was Peter Jennings, just seconds after the first plane struck the north tower, speculating about a tragic airplane crash... thinking it was an accident.

Until, as he was speaking, the live feed showed another plane plow into the south tower. I sat, stunned, as I watched the towers burn, watched as reports came in saying there was an explosion at the Pentagon, watched as the towers collapsed. I watched in horror as they showed video of people jumping from impossible heights to escape burning buildings. And, as news of the crash of United 93 broke, I prayed that our military hadn't been forced to make the terrible choice of shooting down a passenger plane.

At some point I called my parents in Oregon. My dad answered the phone, groggy because I'd woke them up and I said, "Turn on the TV Daddy, we're under attack."

The world turned upside down. I looked down at my two month old son and I wondered how much of life he would get to live. I looked at my older two children, 2 1/2 and 19 months old, and wondered what kind of future they would have. I wondered things that had never crossed my mind before that morning - things I would never have believed possible on the day before our world changed.

Over the next few months, I saw the best and worst in people. I saw people going out of their way to help others in whatever way possible. And I saw people exhibiting the ugliness of racism.

I sat in a women's retreat in October and listened to devout Christian women spew hatred and suggest that every Arab-American should be placed indefinitely in internment camps "for the safety of Americans."

Umm... they ARE Americans. In fact, the majority of Muslims in our country aren't ethnically Arabic. And the majority of people in the US who are ethnically Arabic are actually Christians who came here to escape persecution in the Middle East. But enough of that soap box.

Our world has changed irrevocably and there is very little in our daily lives that isn't touched by the events of seven years ago.

But people forget.

Just like Israel forgot.

Just like Christians seem to forget.

Even though we've experienced something earth-shattering and life-changing... We grumble and complain at the "restrictions" that have been put on us. Even though they are for our benefit - for our safety.

As Americans we chafe at the neck to thread barefoot through checkpoints at the airport or face extra security at the bank. It is all so inconvenient.

We forget that seven years ago 19 men stole or fabricated identities, made use of American dollars and American technologies, and with nothing more than box cutters brought our entire nation to a screeching halt.

As Christians we complain about the "rules" and rebel against the things we should do. We watch the TV we want to watch, no matter how much it corrupts our conscience. We eat and shop where we want to, no matter how many sinful practices our dollars support. We throw our time, our votes and our money away without regard to the consequences.

Because taking the moral high ground is inconvenient. Because we've forgotten.

We've forgotten the lives lost to bring the Gospel to us across oceans and centuries. We've forgotten the spiritual danger we are in - and the souls that are lost because of sin and the powers of this present darkness. We have forgotten that the very things we rebel against are those things that keep our spirits filled with the Spirit and free of Satan's control.

My friends, we have it easy, and like Israel of old, when we have it easy we forget how much this "easy" has cost. Remember the price.