by Wayne Dawson
       It was a typical Tuesday morning, co-anchor Stephanie Schaefer and I were delivering the news on Fox 8 News in the morning. We were broadcasting a light-hearted story about Michael Jordan's possible return to professional basketball, when our producer frantically tells us a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, and the landmark skyscraper was in flames.

       Immediately we air pictures of the scene and began relaying the sketchy details as they came in.

       At this point it's believed the crash is an accident.

       Then to our suzrprise, on live television, another plane crashes into the second tower, and then a third hijacked plane slams into the pentagon in Washington D.C., and we know without a doubt America is under attack.

       So many dead, so many injured, so many families torn apart, the result of the worst and most deadly attack on U.S. soil in American History.        How could God allow such a horrible tragedy to happen?

       In my interviews with various clergy members in the days following the attacks, opinions were mixed. One minister compared the tragedy with that of Old Testament Israel saying, "God had allowed our enemies to attack us as punishment," because America has slipped into moral decay.

       Another pastor said, it's the beginning of the end, the "birth pains" as prophesied by Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew and by the apostle John in the book of Revelations.

       So many dead, so many injured, so many questions unanswered. Often times the ways of God can not be fully understood by man, but one thing we as children of the All Mighty God must understand, is the time is short, and terrorist attack on the 9th month and the eleventh day, 9-1-1... was a wake-up call.

       The message that emerges from the smoky rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, is its time for all of us to get our individual lives in order.

       The Bible says no one knows the day or the hour, but each of us has an appointment with death.

       There's no doubt those who perished in those horrible attacks will be mourned and missed, but if they died knowing (intimate with) the Lord, the truth is they are now in a better place, for the scriptures say, "absent from the body, present with the Lord". Their assignments here on earth are complete, and now they are in paradise...only we who are left behind are suffering.

       As Christians, it is time to reevaluate our relationship with our Heavenly Father...have we truly made Jesus the Lord of our life...? Have we accepted Him as our personal Savior...? Have we asked for forgiveness and truly repented of our sins?        Is our house in order? 9-1-1, it serves as a wake-up call.

Wayne Dawson is the co-anchor of Fox 8 News in the morning. He is a 21-year veteran of television news and a life long Christian. Wayne views his work on Fox 8 as his ministry and he uses his position to tell people about God's forgiving grace through Jesus Christ. Wayne is also working on his Masters in Theology at the Trinity Bible College in Indiana.