Rodanthe, Skeptics, God, and 9/11

Last week my wife and I spent a week with some friend’s in Rodanthe, NC. We finally watched the movie Nights in Rodanthe this week. The movie was good with some underlying good messages about life and what is important in life, but that is just a side note.

While on vacation I had plenty of time to do some reading. I took two books along with me. One is called Letters to a Skeptic. The book outlines a series of letters between a father and his son. The father is skeptical of his son’s faith in Christ. The son is a professor of theology. It was great to get reconnected to some of the reasons why I believe that Jesus Christ is the way to God. The book reminded me that I do not have all the answers to why awful things happen in this life, but that, as I am more convinced than ever again, God is at work in the world seeking to bring good even though there is much that is bad.

Ironically, the other book I grabbed was written by a friend of mine, Artie Van Why, called That Day in September. Artie wrote about his September 11, 2001 experience as he was working across the street from the Twin Towers in New York that day. Reading this book and hearing Artie’s view of God’s presence that day and in the days to follow, coupled with reading the other book, helped me to come to even deeper faith in God.

In essence, I see again that God is at work in the world. And in humanity we have the capability to do incredible good … stopping to help a dying man on the streets of New York while there is danger all around … as well as the capability to do incredible evil … hijacking airplanes and flying them into buildings at the cost of thousands of lives just because of blinding hatred.

No I do not have answers for the horrors of a day like 9/11. Still I can cling to my hope that God is at work in a world with tragic events just like that, and that God is bringing about good in this world.

Thank you to my friend Artie for writing so masterfully your experience … a painful one I am sure. Yet through it all, you have offered me again deep insight into the person of God and have helped to renew my faith in God’s work in the world.