Remembering what I forget

Today marks an amazing anniversary for my country - and my family. We were landing in Frankfurt, Germany right about the time the first plane struck the WTC towers. As it would turn out, we would be one of the last international flights allowed out of the U.S. and one week later we would land at O'Hare airport in Chicago to a virtually empty concourse (and we would represent one of the first flights allowed back into the country).

My memories of 9/11 are far more personal than they are national. I never viewed endless footage or listened to the talking heads. Our first newspaper was 36 hours after our landing and it was in the German language.

We focused on whether we would ever be able to get back home to our other two daughters. We agonized over leaving Reese in Germany (to attend her school - which was why we had traveled to Germany).

Of course, God worked in miraculous ways:

• A friendly German culture who grieved with us - unlike two years later when we would return to pick Reese up and the anti-American sentiment was in full bloom.
• A caring intelligent school for Reese to learn and grow.
• The miraculous experience of being moved to the front of an unbelievably long line of Americans at the airport, because we were flying out on our scheduled day and time and everyone else was facing cancelled flights or wanting to fly home earlier.
• A ticket agent who bent the rules and moved us off a cancelled flight to Paris (our connector) and put us on a direct flight into Chicago.
• A brave United Airlines crew that individually volunteered to be one of the first crews to fly back into the U.S.
• The final destination of Omaha, one of very few flights from Chicago that was not cancelled that day.
• The joy in coming home - and finding a new respect and love for my country and a deeper gratitude to the kind attention of God

Today, I'm remembering what I forgot. Papa cares - no matter what happens. Sometimes in the midst of overwhelming sorrow and tragedy, He listens to the prayers of a frightened family in Germany and Minnesota.

What an amazing thing!