Inspire, Winter 2001

Inspire 19 personnel carrying someone strapped to a backboard hurried up to the car and told us we needed to get the patient to Arlington Hospital. We moved one of the seats in the van and pulled the backboard into the van. I sat next to the man and stroked his arm and spoke to him to keep him calm. He was a contractor who had been at the Pentagon on business that morning. He had been hit by flying debris and had a bandage around his head. He was coherent, though, and seemed to be in pretty good shape. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the hospital. Fortunately, the general was from Arlington and knew all the back roads; the main arteries were clogged with traffic trying to get out of D.C. We eventually made it to our secure location and established contact with the Pentagon command center, which had never ceased functioning during the attack despite the heavy smoke in the building. When it became clear that the Pentagon command center could continue operation, we were sent home. I arrived home at about 11 p.m. It had been a very long, exhausting day, but I was extremely glad to be alive. Before I climbed into bed that night, I determined to maintain my routine and do my evening devotions. Although I do not normally just flip my Bible open and see where my eyes fall, for some reason I did it that night. I was amazed at what the Lord led me to read. My eyes fell upon Psalm 37 where I read: Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good ... For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more ... The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming (Psalm 37:1-3a, 10a, 12-13). Wow! What a message to receive from the Lord. The U.S. was under attack, but God would uphold us and see us through. Over the next few weeks, we worked very long hours as we orchestrated the logistics portion of the response to the attacks, but through it all I felt extremely grateful that God had spared my life, and I had great peace that He is still on His throne and that His mercies are still new every morning. Before I close, I want to relate a couple other vignettes. • The plane hit the one spot in the Pentagon that had the fewest people. It hit between a section that had just been renovated and a second that was being readied for renovation. Both sections were relatively empty. Plus, the renovated section had special reinforced beams and shatterproof windows that saved many lives. • When we first evacuated the building, people immediately began pulling out cell phones to try to call their families. None of the calls were getting through. Thirty minutes earlier, I had spoken to my husband who was in Georgia at the time. I had told him to get to a truck stop and watch what was happening at the World Trade Center. Ten minutes after we hung up, the plane hit the Pentagon. I knew he would be frantic with worry, and I wanted to call him as soon as possible. Two hours later, after we had dropped the injured contractor off at the hospital, we stopped by the home of a person the general knew in Arlington so we could grab some water and make some quick phone calls to family before heading to our secure location. My very first call to my husband’s cell phone got through. Praise the Lord! I later realized what a miracle this was when I found out that my parents spent the next four hours trying to get through to my husband’s phone to see if he had heard from me. I also called my home number and left a message on the answering machine for my kids to tell them I was OK but that I didn’t know when I could come home. • In the days following the attack, I received phone calls and e-mails from around the world asking if I was OK. My former pastor in Washington wrote that they had prayed for me in a special prayer service that night. It was such a blessing to know how much people cared and how many prayers had been raised on my behalf. • Another tremendous blessing was returning to Cedarville University last month for the first Homecoming I have ever been able to celebrate since I graduated in 1981. I was so touched by Dr. Dixon’s message and by the patriotism I saw displayed everywhere I looked. Praise the Lord for Cedarville University.