9/11 Five Years Ago

How did you remember 9/11? Didja go to a Memorial Worship Service? I look at September 11th a little differently now.

9/11 is our Reagan Assassination Attempt. Our Kennedy Assassination. Our Pearl Harbor Day. One moment, no matter where you were or what you were doing you were experiencing the same exact thing, in the exact same way that everyone else in America and around the world was experiencing. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was working in Columbus, Georgia. We were promoting a show that was coming to the Civic Center there. We were just about to go to one of our guys at the Box Office to promote the minute tickets went on sale. Everything changed in a heartbeat.

And, boy how things have changed over the years! I'm not the best flyer. I get queasy on take-offs and landings. I know, I know...It's just like that first curve of a roller coaster. I'm not really good on roller coasters either. In high school, my buddy Derrick and I went to Six Flags to be First on The Demon. We were on line, standing on the rail, under the ride. A woman was pulled of the ride and whisked away in a wheelchair. My buddy Derrick said my face turned white as a sheet and I stopped talking until we got off the ride!

We now have things we can't take on flights. Incredibly strict and tight security.

Five years ago, on September 11, 2011, my wife and I checked the approved list and packed our bags. We were heading over to Kiev, with a stopover in Amsterdam. After seven years of waiting (kinda) patiently, and nine months of prepping, we were heading off to bring our son, Justin home. It was the second time I'd flown anywhere since 9/11, and we were on an international flight.

As anxious as I was about flying, I was anxious to finish the journey that my wife and I had been on for a very long time.

The flight from MSP was the first, small step that began an eight-week journey to bring Justin home forever.

Yeah, I'll remember the plane that went down in the field. The heroes of Flight 93. The first responders, the firefighters. All 3,000 lives.

But more, I'll remember the day I took my first step to bring my boy home.

Know what I was listening to in my headphones on the flight over? There is something about this song that tugged at my heartstrings very deeply.