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<\/a><\/p>\nToday, we as a nation remember one of those days which will always stand out in American history\u2013 September 11, 2001.<\/p>\n
We all have our, \u201cWhere were you?\u201d stories. Me? For me, 9-11 happened in the evening\u2013 I was in the forces deployed to South Korea and watched the events unfold live on the Armed Forces Network. It was an especially tense time for us, and we spent the next several weeks wondering if North Korea would take advantage of the opportunity. The base stayed in lock-down mode, and our chemical warfare gear was always by our side. Each year on the anniversary of 9-11, the emotions I experienced that evening flood my mind all over again.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they do for you too.<\/p>\n
As we look back on the events of 9-11, one common motto gets repeated the most: \u201cNever Forget.\u201d And certainly, no- we shouldn\u2019t forget. We should look back and remember.<\/p>\n
We remember the innocent lives lost. The brave souls who risked their lives- and some who gave their lives- to save the lives of others.<\/p>\n
May we never forget the moms, the dads, and the children who were never reunited after that fateful day.<\/p>\n
On this day I look back, I remember, and I pray.<\/p>\n
I pray not only for my nation, but for the people of God who live in this nation, and pray that we will never forget. Yet, my prayer is that we will never forget so much more<\/em> than just the events of that day.<\/p>\nWhat I pray we remember most is\u00a0that the cycle of violence is never-ending, and the people of Jesus are invited to opt-out of that entire system.<\/strong><\/p>\nThere\u2019s much to remember and learn from the years that have followed the terrorist attacks on 9-11. Sadly, the reaction of our nation (however justified one feels they were) only fed into the never-ending cycle of violence, and today we are as far from peace\u2013 if not farther\u2013 than we were on that day.<\/p>\n
The cycle of violence is always the same.<\/p>\n
They hit us, so we hit them\u2013 but harder. Naturally, they hit us back which only provokes us to hit them all over again. Before one can even realize what is happening, two sides can be locked into a never-ending cycle of increasing retaliation for the previous hit. Given enough time, some people on either side might not even understand why they\u2019re fighting, other than each side having a now deep-seeded fear and hatred of the other.<\/p>\n
An eye for an eye eventually becomes an eye for a life, a life for a neighborhood, a neighborhood for a nation, and so on. It\u2019s a cycle where\u00a0all participants lose regardless of which side one may consider innocent or guilty.<\/em><\/p>\nThey killed a few thousand, so we killed a few hundred thousand. What happens next? Who knows. The cycle of violence can take on all kinds of ugliness.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s how the cycle of violence works. To stop it, there\u2019s only two solutions: either one side must kill everyone on the other side leaving not even the children breathing (lest they one day avenge the death of their parents), or one side must choose to stop hitting back.<\/em><\/p>\nThose are the only two options.<\/p>\n
While the United States was the victim on 9-11, we\u2019ve spent the last decade trading an eye for a neighborhood, an eye for a nation, an eye for whatever felt justified in our own minds, and\u00a0as a result,\u00a0we are now no longer the innocent people we were on 9-11.<\/p>\n
Sadly, trading an eye for a neighborhood didn\u2019t even work\u2013 it had the opposite impact. With every drone strike that blows up a wedding of innocent people, with every child killed by our fire from the sky (something we call a \u201cbug splat\u201d), we have only created a new generation of people who want to hit us back. In many ways, we created new terrorists faster than we could kill the original ones.<\/strong><\/p>\nAnd so here we are\u2013 remembering the first punch in a long cycle of people throwing punches.<\/p>\n
And yes, we must remember. I remember falling on my knees in a small dorm room in Korea, and crying out to God on that evening. I remember the buildings falling, and that feeling deep within my spirit that I hadn\u2019t felt before, and haven\u2019t felt since.<\/p>\n
But more than simply remembering the events of that day, my prayer is that the people of Jesus will remember to be prophetic voices to a world locked in the never-ending cycle of violence\u2013 that we might show the world a better way to live.<\/p>\n
Jesus taught that violence only leads to more violence, and we certainly see that truth played out in the world around us. This day is one of those days we as Jesus followers must remember this truth, and\u00a0testify to it.<\/p>\n
Never forget the sadness and horror of that day? Yes. But may we never forget the words of Jesus himself in response to that:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also\u2026\u00a0<\/span>You have heard that it was said, \u2018Love your neighbor\u00a0and hate your enemy.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,<\/span>\u00a0that you may be children\u00a0of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.<\/span>\u00a0If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nAs Jesus-followers, we are called to\u00a0live like Jesus<\/em>. We\u2019re called to put away our swords, called to opt out of the ways of the world, and invited to bear witness to a Kingdom that functions by a different set of rules.<\/p>\n9-11 is\u00a0a day to remember many things. Above all however, I pray on this day\u00a0we\u2019ll remember\u00a0the cycle of violence is never-ending, and that the \u2018eye for an eye\u2019 system is never stops at\u00a0just one\u00a0eye.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, we as a nation remember one of those days which will always stand out in American history\u2013 September 11, 2001. We all have our, \u201cWhere were you?\u201d stories. Me? For me, 9-11 happened in the evening\u2013 I was in the forces deployed to South Korea and watched the events unfold live on the Armed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1638,"featured_media":12995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[514,35],"class_list":["post-12982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-nonviolence","tag-514","tag-violence"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n