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Sent:
Tuesday, October 02, 2001 3:02 PM
Subject: This is really
wonderful!
Pentagon officer
recounts
events that spared his life
By
Lt. Col. Franklin Childress
WASHINGTON
(BP)--In Jeremiah 29:11-13 the Lord boldly declares:
"I know the plans I have for you.
Plans to prosper
you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and
a future."
Those verses have never been truer for me
than
they were on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001.
My office was ground zero for the jet that hit the Pentagon.
My
office was totally destroyed, many of my
co-workers
were killed or severely injured, but I
was spared.
On that particular day, I was at my apartment
waiting
to receive a baggage shipment.
I checked into the Pentagon on Sept. 4 for an assignment
as the
public affairs officer for the Deputy Chief
of Staff of
the Army for Personnel.
I was assigned to a
newly renovated wing of the
Pentagon. I was overwhelmed by the strangeness
of the Pentagon-who does what, what
my role is.
I went through the process of checking in
and
meeting everybody I would work with and
completed my processing requirements by Monday, Sept. 10.
As part of my arrival requirements, I worked with the
Transportation Office at a nearby military
installation
for delivery of my household goods from Hawaii.
They initially set up the delivery for my
shipment
to be on Sept. 6. When I called
back to check the
confirmation of that date, the person I
spoke to said
that the previous clerk had dropped the ball and
I would have to wait a week to get
my goods delivered.
I was a little angry, but I resolved to take it in stride
and make another appointment.
Little did I know that the date I chose for the
delivery would
be a decision that saved my life.
I thought
that I might have to meet my new boss,
Lt Gen.
Maude on Monday, Sept. 10, so I chose
to have my
baggage delivered on Tuesday, Sept.
11.
I was sitting on my balcony watching and waiting
for the moving company truck that was to deliver
my
baggage to arrive at 9:32 a.m. when I heard
what I
thought was a sonic boom.
Then I heard fire trucks
and ambulances
rushing through the streets.
I turned
on the TV and was appalled to see that
an
American Airlines jet had crashed into the Pentagon.
My shock continued as I watched the news come in
about the World Trade Center in New York.
I was
watching when the twin towers came
crashing down. My reaction
was that I
was watching the end of the
world.
Then the most tragic news of all hit me like a
hammer blow. The office where I work was the
impact point of the crash. I learned that my boss
and many of my co-workers were
unaccounted-for and that if I had been at work that
day
I would not be writing this now.
What I
have come to realize is that I have been
given the ultimate
gift from God-
my salvation.
If I had been there
that day, I would have been ready
for God to
take me home.
I also realize that I have been given a
second gift,
that God miraculously spared my life
that day.
I am truly grateful to Christ who
gives me strength.
Some people describe me as lucky and
that I was
saved by a coincidence, but I
believe that
I am blessed. I know Who saved me and His name is
not
luck.
I do not believe that anything
happens by accident.
I believe that God spared me for his purposes;
I have to be still and let him reveal his
purpose
for my life.
Until that happens, I will
tell everybody that I can
about my miraculous
gift.
I pray for all those people in our country who
are searching for answers, that they will find the
ultimate answer I have
found-
Jesus Christ.
The Bible says that no man knows the time
or place of his death; therefore,
be
watchful and sober for the Lord will come
like a thief in the night.
My prayer is that those
who were not ready
to meet their maker found Jesus in those last
few moments of their lives just like the thief on
the cross.
In closing, I pray that every man, woman,
boy and girl who reads my words
will consider the
meaning of life.
I pray that after their careful and
prayerful consideration they, like me,
will give their life over
to Jesus Christ
and trust him as their Lord and
Savior.
I promise that if they do that they will
have
the promise that Jesus gives everyone,
that
they will have life and have it
more
abundantly.
I also pray that every Christian would be
bold in their own witness.
I believe that we have a
narrow
window of time to reach the lost because
people
are now open to the Word
and because Jesus Christ is
coming soon.
We may have been born for such
a time as this.
* 30--
Childress is the
public affairs officer for the
Deputy Chief of Staff of the
Army for Personnel.
He is a member of the First
Baptist Church of North
Spartanburg, S.C., and the
brother-in-law of Keith Andrews, pastor of
Padgett's
Creek (S.C.) Baptist Church
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