Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you. (Psalm 55:22-23)

When did you hear and where were you when you heard Tuesday morning? You'll probably never forget! Anne and I had just returned from Europe Monday evening. Unbeknownst to us, we were among the last to make it home, as in that one long day we flew from Rome to Brussels, Brussels to Chicago, and Chicago into Orange County Airport.

I've discovered the best way to fight jet lag is to exercise. So I got up early Tuesday morning to take my aerobic walk, took a bit longer route than usual, smarting from the pain of having been pick-pocketed in the Rome subway Sunday night and having had my luggage lost on Monday. I usually make it home from my walk to catch the 7 o'clock news on the Today show. But I consciously thought, It's been a slow news summer. I've heard all I want to hear about Gary Condit, and an extra fifteen minutes of exercise before our first staff retreat of the year would be of greater value than the top of the news.

When I arrived home at 7:20 a.m. I was surprised to see both Janet and Anne riveted to the television. As they tried to tell me something, I saw an airliner crash into a building. I then saw another instant replay. At that moment I, like you, became riveted to the news, obsessed with our national tragedy. Everything else, including stolen wallets filled with cash, credit cards, drivers licenses, family pictures and other valuables, along with a suitcase stuffed full of clothes and personal affects, seemed incidental to the horrendous loss of life and shock to our American psyche.

I must admit that after a half hour of watching those outrageously bizarre events with those four planes crashing, I wondered if the commentators would stop and sheepishly declare that this was a contemporary update of the old Orson Welles' "invasion of the planet" deception of decades ago and it would be revealed that this was a computerized simulation of a fictional terrorist attack meant to momentarily shock the nation, and then relieve us as we discovered our vulnerability to such technological trickery. But no such announcement was made. And the horror settled in as all air flights were canceled, key government buildings were evacuated, and for a while we did not even know the whereabouts of our President.

I don't know how close you've come to a personal connect with this tragedy. We've all empathized with the stories of passengers having those touching last phone conversations with loved ones. We've witnessed the relief of those who would have been on those planes or in those towers but for some reason were delayed. We've been amazed at the stories of those who made their way down ninety floors, escaping all injury, and one who even apparently fell a great distance in the implosion, coming out relatively unscathed. Then the dark side is filled with the horror of business firms who lost hundreds of employees, families that are shattered, and even the tragic story of a child who lost one parent, a passenger in the plane, and the other parent who worked in the Trade Center.