"The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all" ( Psalms 103:19 ).

The date was September 11, 2001; the time, 8:46 A.M. My husband Lee and I were listening to the radio as we went about our morning routine. Suddenly an emergency news bulletin grabbed our attention: "A plane has just hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center! We'll bring you more details as we get them."

This is not the first time a small aircraft had struck a New York City skyscraper, so our initial reaction was to minimize the severity of the crash. We did want to check out the scene, however, so each of us reached for a set of binoculars. (We live on the top floor of a high rise condominium on the Jersey shore, south of Manhattan.) We pointed our respective glasses northward and fine-tuned our lenses. There they were, the two towering skyscrapers. But where was the plane? There was no sign of one, small or otherwise. Instead, we saw billows of smoke forcing their way out of the North Tower, and flames licking the building's frame. This was not the inconsequential accident we had expected to see. We turned on the TV for a closer look.

HIT AGAIN AND AGAIN

We watched the screen as fire engines and police cars rushed to the scene. Then the unthinkable happened: another plane slammed into the Trade Center, this time hitting the South Tower. Glued to the picture, we, like millions of others that day, became unwitting spectators to some very chilling scenes. We watched the fires as they spread. We gasped as office workers waved frantically from windows located above the flames, signaling their distress and growing hopelessness. Every once in a while we glimpsed a human figure plunging to the ground. The sight sickened us. Being burned alive or leaping to one's death - what a choice to have to make!

While these struggles were being shown on TV, others were taking place behind the scenes, we were told. Office workers were scrambling down smoke-filled stairways in a desperate attempt to reach safety. Most would make it. Others, sadly, would not.

A verbal trailer began to cross the screen: "At 9:38 A.M. American flight 77 plowed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.!" While we were trying to digest this new information, there was yet another blow: The South Tower of the Trade Center, the second tower to be hit, was beginning to pancake. We held our breath as we watched it collapse. In four short seconds, those still trapped inside were turned to dust - simply pulverized!

MORE?

We found ourselves hoping the carnage was over. Reality, however, proved otherwise. Shortly after ten o'clock we learned that United flight 93 had crashed into a field in central Pennsylvania. This is the flight that, after being hijacked by terrorists, was turned toward a target in our nation's capital. Quick-thinking passengers banded together, reports later revealed. Motivated by the now-famous cry, "Let's roll!" these passengers moved en masse to overtake the hijackers. What happened after that no one knows for certain. But at a makeshift memorial erected near the crater that the doomed plane dug in the earth - a site Lee and I would later visit - a local spokesperson declared, "You folks are standing near the spot where America's first battle in the war against terrorism was fought and won." Not a single tourist present that day, including Lee and me, questioned the statement. Instead, we all remained speechless, lost in a silence that seemed almost sacred.

The reason Lee and I chose to visit the site of the crash of Flight 93 is that two of our church members, Don and Jean Peterson, were passengers on it. As their personal story unfolded, some disturbing facts emerged. It seems that Don and Jean had arrived for their 9:00 A.M. flight from Newark to San Francisco on September 11 with plenty of time to spare. While checking in, they were told they could switch to the 8:00 o'clock flight if they wished. They decided to make the change.

Family members, however, were not aware of this change. When the Petersons' son heard about the crash of a United flight to San Francisco leaving Newark at eight o'clock, he was concerned, we were told; yet at the same time, he was relieved. "Mom and Dad are on the nine o'clock," he reassured himself. "The eight o'clock is the one that went down. Phew!" It was not until later in the day that this son and other family members learned the awful truth about their loved ones' fatal decision.

MUSINGS

Let me say at this point that when a tragedy like 9/11 occurs, your mind can drive you crazy. What ifs and if onlys can haunt you. The Petersons' son probably thought, What if Mom and Dad had not been so bent on getting to the airport early? If only they had stuck to their original schedule. Why did they decide to change flights?

The Bible comes to our aid at times like these, reassuring us that there are no what ifs or if onlys with God. Whatever happens is part of an ultimate plan. While some people find such a conclusion disturbing, I find it wonderfully liberating. In fact, it is the only thing that sets one free from the bondage of the destructive what-could-have-beens.

As far as the Petersons are concerned, they had an appointment to meet their Maker on September 11, 2001. They kept that appointment. For them, death was not some cruel twist of fate. Rather, it was a planned homecoming. They got to experience its heartaches and joys together. They left Earth hand-in-hand.

This is not to say that Christian victims of tragedy escape the emotional and physical trauma that normally accompanies dreadful events. Nor does it mean that the Christians left behind do not experience the gut-wrenching sense of loss that all mourners feel. On the contrary, horror, pain, and emptiness can be the lot for Christians as well as for non-Christians, sometimes to a degree that is off the charts.

But let us not rule out God's power to intervene on behalf of His own. When Christ, in His high priestly prayer, asked the Father to "protect" His disciples "from the evil one" (John 17:15), He was not requesting an escape from suffering. He knew many of His followers would suffer deaths that would test their faith to the utmost. Rather, He was relying on what His Father would do in the midst of suffering. The Father would provide invisible "shields" to safeguard the soul, He knew (See Psalms 28:7), and send a "peace" that transcends human understanding to calm the troubled heart (See Philippians 4:7).

OPPORTUNITIES FOR A WITNESS

We were jolted out of our musings that day by a ringing phone. Lee answered it. The caller identified himself as Stephen Wilde, a radio host in Queenstown, New Zealand. While visiting the United States, Stephen had spent a week with us and knew that we had an unencumbered view of the World Trade Center in New York City. So when his station manager asked him to get someone from the greater New York City area on the line for an interview, Stephen knew just whom to call. Would Lee be willing to share what he was feeling? Of course. The question was, would Lee be able to?

In a voice quivering with emotion and with sirens wailing in the background (our local hospital was preparing to receive some of the injured), Lee bared his heart and his soul. The station manager later praised Stephen for his quick thinking and excellent interview. We were praising God that Lee was able to do the interview at all!

Later on, a friend, Rich Immordino, shared with us a unique opportunity he had to testify to his faith that day. It seems that Rich's office was located in a building near the Twin Towers. When the North Tower was hit, fellow workers crowded around his desk. Together they watched as the ensuing fire exploded into an inferno. And together they commiserated with those who were hanging out of windows crying for help. Everyone felt powerless. Suddenly into their view sped the second airliner. The group looked on in disbelief as the plane took aim at the South Tower and hit its target right on. There was a collective, audible gasp, Rich said. Then one fellow worker, who knew of Rich's Christian faith, caught Rich's eye and asked sarcastically, "OK, Mr. Immordino, where is your God now?"

"My God is in the same place today that He was in the day His Son died on Calvary's cross," Rich answered assuredly. "He's on His throne in heaven."

WORDS YOU CAN TRUST

There is a magnet on my refrigerator that reads, "Either God is in control or He isn't." To me that plaque says it all. You see, although events may appear to be spiraling out of control, that does not mean that they are. Although evil may seem to have gained the upper hand, that does not mean that it has. We live on a fallen planet. Ever since man sinned in the Garden of Eden, evil has been part of the curse God pronounced on humanity as a result of that sin. The curse will be with us until the end of time. But only until then. Jesus Christ will one day banish evil from the earth.

Meanwhile, God has Satan and his cohorts on a tether. They can go only so far. Unfortunately, these evildoers go as far as they can, and they do so every time. They strain at the very limits of God's unwelcome control. One day, however, they will be stopped in their tracks and duly punished for the harm they have done to God's people (See Isaiah 13:11). It will be a glorious day - a day of righteousness, justice, and truth.

We are talking about God's sovereignty. He has authority, power, rule, and control over everything that happens in His world. As philosopher Abraham Kuyper said, "There is not a square inch of the universe over which King Jesus does not claim, 'Mine.'"

When the authors of the Bible address God's sovereignty, they do so with one voice and without equivocation. "The Lord has established His throne in heaven," the psalmist asserts, "and his kingdom rules over all" (Psalms 103:19). God "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," the apostle Paul confirms (Ephesians 1:11). "The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever," the apostle John assures us as he glimpses the glories of heaven (Revelation 11:15). Christians, we either believe these words, or we do not. You see, when it comes to the sovereignty of God, there is no middle ground. As the plaque on my refrigerator says, "Either God is in control or He isn't."

SOME REDEEMING FEATURES OF TRAGEDIES

It is not unusual to hear Christians who have survived brutal manifestations of man's inhumanity to man testify that when things were darkest in their lives, they experienced God's redemptive power in ways they never could have imagined. "God went with me through the valley of the shadow of death," some say; and I "feared no evil" (Psalms 23:4).

Others talk about the fact that things could have been worse. As far as the collapse of the Twin Towers is concerned, 15,000 people did manage to get out alive. While this statistic does little to relieve the pain of the families of the 2807 individuals who were crushed, it does show that there was a divine restraint on evil that day. It makes one wonder what the day would have been like without God's restraining hand.

Tragedies also serve as reminders that our days are numbered. They offer opportunities to get our souls right with God (See Psalms 90:12). According to reports from churches in our area, several people did put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result of 9/11. Others, sadly, did not. In fact, many are still ignoring the warning to repent of their sins and let God change their lives. How many more opportunities will they be granted? We do not know. What we do know is that one of these days Jesus Christ is going to revisit our planet and hold all His created beings accountable for their actions, both good and evil.

This can be a frightening thought. For when Jesus Christ comes again, He will not come as the sacrificial Lamb who "takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Rather, this time He will come as the Lion of Judah, exacting judgment that is righteous and deserved (Revelation 5:5). At the time of His return, there will be no further opportunity to come to Him in repentance and faith. While this is bad news for those who do not know Him, it is wonderful news for those of us who do. For us, the return of Christ means an end to pain, sorrow, conflict, and death. It also means an end to evil. Yes, evil's days on earth are numbered.

IN SUMMARY

So what is the bottom line? Does evil reign on planet Earth? Absolutely not! The sovereign Lord reigns on planet Earth. This is His world, created by His grace, existing for His purposes.

Are we to ignore the evil we see around us then? No. For even though Christ won the battle against evil on the cross, Satan is a real and present danger. He fights on.

In the end, however, we know who comes out on top. It is the Lord. I invite you to visit the former site of the World Trade Center and look for two large steel girders welded together. Forming a cross, they stand alone in the emptiness of the towers' footprints. This "cross" was discovered by the cleanup crew, reverently set aside, and then positioned on the crash site as a symbol of hope. For the Christian, however, this "cross" symbolizes more than hope. It symbolizes victory, now and forever.

It is thrilling to realize that at this very moment, the sovereign Lord, from His throne on high, is fitting everything that happens on our planet into a plan that was conceived even before the world was created. One day we Christians will be privileged to view the blueprint of that plan, I imagine, and we will marvel at how the darker pieces of the puzzle were designed to fit into the lighter ones. Right now, however, we are plagued by questions. We know we are on the winning side, but we cannot help yearning for the end of evil's destruction. When will it come?

Interestingly, the Bible tells us more about evil's end than it does about its beginning, but that does not stop us from wondering. Where did evil come from? How did it get started? Did its presence catch God off guard? I invite you to join me as together we dig for some answers to these very provocative questions.