BJU Chancellor Dr. Bob Jones III recounts his remembrances of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and shares how we should reflect on this tragic event 20 years later.
As University president, he spoke that day in chapel to inform many in the student body of the morning’s events and spend time in prayer. In doing so, he gave encouragement while referring to the seriousness of the situation.
“We face the realities of it and the gravities of it, but our heart remains steadfast in the Lord,” he said. “It is times like this that drive us to His sheltering wings and encircling arms.”
From a personal perspective, Jones remembers the University community facing the same shock and bewilderment as the rest of the United States. “Grasping the reality of it was hard for a lot of us in the first few hours,” he said.
One student’s father was a commercial airline pilot at the time and scheduled to work one of the flights overtaken by terrorists. Due to circumstances, he swapped shifts with a coworker. He later spoke in chapel to relay his experience clearly ordained by God’s sovereignty.
Most BJU students were either toddlers or not born at the time of the horrific attacks and chilling days that followed. Jones advises the current generation of students how to properly commemorate the day and use the opportunity for advancement of the kingdom: “Know your history; stay conversant with current events so you know how to pray.
“Seize the evangelistic opportunity that the instability of these times brings. This may be our greatest evangelistic moment in the last hundred years.”
