What's all this about God?

The flight was normal. The sky was crystal blue and our turboprop plane was making good progress without the slightest of turbulence. I finished a crossword puzzle and was reading an article. Then the pilot broke the silence with an unexpected announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have been instructed to land our flight as soon as possible. Since we are about a half-hour from our destination in Buffalo, we are using our discretion to continue the flight to Buffalo, but faster than normal."

The intercom went silent, followed by a quick ramp up of the throttle. The plane was going ever faster, while not changing altitude or direction. What was once a smooth ride was now more akin to a sled ride down a snowy mountainside. We landed very quickly. In fact, we reached Buffalo in half the time. We must've doubled the speed of the airplane. It was not graceful but seemed necessary.

When the propellers were stopped and the door opened, everyone gathered their belongings as usual. We stepped out of the airplane, down to the tarmac, only to be greeted by Buffalo Police. They were there to escort us all off the plane and through the terminal. This was definitely strange. We felt like we were being herded through the airport. We were instructed not to use any payphones or to buy anything in the stores, but to get out of the terminal in an orderly fashion. Something was up. As we passed by a restaurant and bar, we noticed a lot of people huddled around the television sets. All I noticed was a fire on what appeared to be the Mall on Washington. Was there a fire in an office building? Was a museum in danger? We couldn't stop long enough to notice.

I made my way out of the terminal area and went down to the luggage claim area. Strange, my bag was already on the belt and circulating around. How'd they load it so quickly? I was beginning to wonder what was going on. The authorities certainly wanted us out of the airport as soon as possible, that was for sure.

As I stepped out to the passenger pick-up area, my cell phone notified me of three voice messages for me. I tried dialing the voice mailbox, but only received the 'all circuits busy' message. Over and over I tried to reach the voice mailbox and kept receiving that message. About twenty minute later I got through. The first message was from a customer asking for some information due. The second was from my mother, asking if I was okay. "Strange", I thought.

The last message was from my co-worker who was coming to the airport to pick me up. His message was more to the effect that he does not know where I am at this very moment, but I'd be so lucky to be in Buffalo right now. "Even more strange", I thought. I tried to redial him back to just to let him know I was safe and sound in the Buffalo airport passenger pick-up area. It took a good dozen dial attempts to get through, but his first question was, "Where are you?!"

He came and picked me up. I got in the car and he had the AM radio going full blast. Whatever is going on was serious. He then relayed to me the whole story as of that moment. I was in shock. There was nothing better to describe the feeling, that we were under attack from an unknown force. As time went on, we heard that one of the towers had fallen... later the second. We were in a haze and had little else on our minds. I managed to get in touch with my mother and reassure her I'm okay. We did make our way through the day and visited with customers in the Buffalo area. We then continued on through the week, learning more details about the attack, the attackers, their possible motivations, Acts of War, the conditions at the last moments and finally the colossal mountain of rubble at the foot of where the towers once stood.

Through the week, I watched the evening news, I talked with others, I cried, I read the stories and I relived my few moments there inside the towers on less auspicious days. With the fear and anger going through my head, I don't think the Lord would be too proud of me then. I still made it through the week. I'm not one to just put it behind me and try to ignore the fact that this really happened. It was not a movie stunt.

In hindsight of this terrible week, there is a long hill to climb. I cannot go around in fear. The best thing for the country is to lick its wounds and continue on. There is much to be done in rooting out the evil people that perpetrated this act of hatred. I cannot speculate too much as to the source; I leave that for greater minds. I do believe that Osama Bin Laden is involved to some extent.

There is much to be said for what we're about to face. Here we go into a week of investigation, more details, more suspicions, more international posturing, threats, promises of threats, security changes and a lot of looking over one's shoulder. I do know that our free thinking way of life has been changed. There will be longer lines at the airports, at the football games, at any major public event. We will no longer feel so safe within our own borders.

We can overcome this. This is a great nation and this is a great continent. We have pulled together in times of similar difficulty and have forged a new path and triumphed. This will be another case of the same. Have faith. Have trust. Let go and Let God.