New York City: 9/11 Memorial & Museum

I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!

Psalm 119:19

Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne

Photos taken at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum and St. Paul's Chapel, New York City, November of 2019

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

23rd Psalm

… dedicated to all first responders …

david

August 20, 2018

david

If you are like me, you remember exactly where you were on that day … the day that time froze, and we all stood still in dismay. As a nation, we were shaken, and would never be the same, for the victims in the towers … they were you and me. It could have been you or me, and as Americans, it was us, each one of us. The images of ashen bodies running for safety left us devastated, and those forlorn asking others if they had seen their loved one in this photo… there are not any words. Our sense of security that we in the United States were somehow immune to threat or destruction was breached and our vulnerability exposed, and we were left that day in total shock… So, if you’re like me, you have questions … like why did this happen? How could a good God allow evil to seemingly prevail? Why must we say goodbye to loved ones before we are ready? Why does someone die when they have so much more life ahead of them? The people in the towers and planes were not ready to go… they did not choose to go… so why were they taken prematurely? I had felt burdened for quite some time that I needed to go to Ground Zero … for myself and for those we lost. I had been to New York before but not since 9/11 had happened. After the loss of my parents within five months of one another, I decided I must get there as soon as I could while at the same time visiting a family cemetery where my ancestors began their new lives in a new world in Brooklyn. The images in these photos will speak for themselves of the memorial and the beauty which emanates from it in honoring those whose lives were lost that day, in bringing their memory forth, and in this way keeping each of them alive in our hearts. For that is what memories do …

2 “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it—the LORD is his name: 3 'Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.'"

Jeremiah 33:2-3