SURVIVOR 0F 9/11 ~ A BLESSED TESTIMONY!
September 11, 2001.None of us will ever forget where we were, who we were with and what we were doing that fateful day when tragedy struck America on what looked like a beautiful day in New York city. America will never be the same. As we deal with the loss of thousands of innocent lives we were also reminded that history books will also tell the tale of many Americans that faced terror with courage.
I dedicate this page to many that died so that others like us might live.
Let me share with you briefly our story:
I worked on the 81st floor of the North Tower or Tower 1 of the World Trade Center and my wife Mary worked on the 71st floor of the South Tower or Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. We enjoyed so much working in the same complex. I left home early that morning for work. As I sat on my chair I started reflecting on God's goodness on my life. I began to sense a deep sense of emptiness in my life. God's hand was upon us. He had blessed us with good jobs and now we were even expecting our first child. But all I found myself doing is going to church on Sunday mornings. I knew there was a call of God upon my life but I was not doing anything about it. I decided to write an email to a friend from my church telling him how I felt, I let go of that email at 8:05 am from my office. Little did I know what that day would bring.
At about 8:45 AM on the morning of September 11, 2001, I had just faxed out some documents and was returning to my desk and hear this tremendous explosion. Our building shook and tilted. People screamed throughout our floor. Although we had no idea of what had happened, what had happened was that the American Airlines Flight 11 bound from Boston to Los Angeles, with a full tank of fuel had hit the floors directly above us. Soon debris from the aircraft flew into our office and everything started going up in flames. Everyone, however, remained calm and we started making our way to the stairway. There was a huge crater in our floor and we could see almost 10 floors below and above us. That moment my heart sank, as I had no idea whether the plane had hit our tower or the one my wife was working in. I thought to myself that she would have been entering the second tower at that moment. I just could not help but think of the fact that she was four months pregnant then with our son.
We were all being evacuated through the stairway. My cell phone was not working so I had no way of reaching my wife. After I had gone down about thirty flights, I entered an office on the 53rd floor and tried to make some calls. However, the only number I could reach was my cousin's wife who lived in Queens. I told her I was fine and that I was going down the stairwell. By this time, I was extremely worried about my wife, and continued running down the stairwells. While we were descending, there were hundreds of fire fighters and police officers passing by us on the way up to rescue people who were trapped. These brave men never made it home. As we were led down I saw an unbelievable sight as I looked out into the courtyard. It was a picture of death, complete destruction. Fuselage of the plane that had crashed, burning material, shattered glass and bodies all over the courtyard. It seemed a war zone.
I saw people being led through different exits of the World Trade Center. I decided to walk towards Tower 2 hoping that there might be chance that I might see my wife there if she had not made it to her floors. As I reached closer to this building I hear a loud explosion, the whole building collapsing.
All 110 stories of the second tower of the World Trade Center collapsed upon us standing near the foot of the building. Huge boulders and steel and mortar were tumbling down around us. We huddled at one end of the building and I started praying for the blood of Jesus and asking God to give His strength. As I stared death as its face I started having this peace about this place called heaven. I told the people around me that all of us were going to die and if there was anyone who did not yet know Christ that they should call upon His name. At that point, everyone around me started crying: "Jesus!". There is so much power in the name of Jesus.
When you are near death, you are very ready to accept Jesus into your life. By then, the whole building had collapses and we were in the debris.
Not a single boulder or any material fell on me. I found myself in three feet of white soot. I got to my feet and was surrounded by silence. I could see dead bodies all around me. God directed me to a man on the ground who had a flashlight on him. I told him that only Jesus could save us and that we had to live. When the man had stood up, I saw that the jacket he was wearing had "FBI" written on it. We held hands and started walking through the rubble. It was like a blizzard, one caused by all the concrete and ash that had been stirred up into the atmosphere.
The Holy Spirit then showed me a light flashing on top of an ambulance, so I told the man from the FBI that we had to head to that flashing light, since the ambulance was on the street. We somehow made it to the ambulance, which had been badly hit by flying debris. But still God kept the flashing light on top of the ambulance working to show me the way. From that point, it was relatively easy for us to make our way out. Nevertheless, I was gripped by the thought that my wife who was in the other World Trade Center tower might be dead. All kinds of images went through my mind.
Crowds started running from all over downtown to safer places far away from the skyscrapers. We ran and walked for an hour, and throughout the whole time my cell phone failed to work. Finally, at noon my cell phone rang. It was my wife, telling me that she was alive. When she heard my voice, she realized that I too had made it through. She had not made it to work, since her train had reached the World Trade Center subway stop five minutes after the first crash and so had not made it into the buildings. She had been hysterical on the streets, thinking I was dead and seeing people jumping out of the buildings. Nevertheless, both of us were, miraculously, alive. My wife reached 39th Street in Manhattan near the Ferry and somehow I reached there. We looked back and could see both our buildings now only a pile of smoking rubble and ashes.
It is impossible to explain the sense of relief that flowed through us when we saw each other. Both of us had been so close to believing that we would never see each other again. When the explosion took place and the building was crumbling around me, images of my wife, parents, grandmother, and other loved ones flashed through my mind. The relief that we were alive was almost more than I could bear. This story of ours is almost too good to be true. In spite of 110 floors of one of the tallest buildings in the world falling around me, I had not one single scratch on my body. For me this is proof that not only is God good, but that He knows the number of every single hair on our head. God never sleeps or dozes. This event proved to me that He is coming soon and that it is fundamentally important that we live every day as if He will be coming that very day. I am reminded however that thousands died on this fateful day. We will all have to go one day. It was not our time to go that day. It is appointed for all men to die once. We are here to challenge the world with the question: "Do You Know Where You Are Going?"
I salute the fallen and those that have been left standing. I thank God for our bravest Police men and women, firemen, men and women who go in harm's way and defend this nation. Many gave their today for others to see their tomorrow.
I thank God for the resilience of life that we saw in New York City. I thank God for America. I thank God for the thousands that have invited Jesus into their hearts. Our God is in the business of turning our tragedies into trophies of His glory and grace. We have been so blessed with the love and support from people from all over the world. We love you all.
"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:31
[Shared by Monsy Mathew]
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