Like that day on 9/11, faith remains a first responder

For me, 9/11 began with the rumble of rolling thunder the night before. I was riding the Metro home from the Pentagon, where I served as an Army chaplain. Most evenings, I used the commute home to pray for the world. But on the Monday night of Sept. 10, 2001, my prayers were distracted by the pounding bass drum of a storm on the horizon.

Vividly, I heard a divine whisper to "pray about the gathering of malice." I did just that, staying up until about 2 a.m. to pray for peace and protection. Looking back, I know that the prayers of many people of faith who were similarly directed that night helped form the spiritual foundation for the acts of courage that were needed to withstand the attacks that were just hours away.

I was on the other side of the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 careened into its walls, killing 184 innocent people. I quickly joined medical teams running into the Pentagon's center courtyard. Firemen were placing casualties on the grass. Fellow chaplains and I asked the wounded if they wanted us to pray with them. Without exception, all of them did. The scriptural passages and hymns we shared calmed their fears significantly.

To escape the fire, one officer jumped from a second-story window and lay on the ground, where he tried to break the fall of others with his arms. Deeply distressed, he repeated "I can't feel my legs."

I shared with him Paul's promise in Romans: "[T]hat neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God...." As we tried to lift him, dried leaves scratched his leg. "Ouch!" he said loudly, and we united in a triumphant cheer, realizing that he could feel his legs.

Terrorists worked for years, conspiring to make their suicidal attacks a defining day of hatred. They shattered steel and concrete, and they murdered about 3,000 people. But they utterly failed to shatter the American spirit. The acts of compassion we all witnessed in the aftermath of that Tuesday morning showed the superiority of moral courage to raw animal courage. And these heroic acts transformed 9/11 into a defining day of love.

In 28 years as an Army chaplain, I can't remember a day that I was prouder to be an American. To this day I am filled with gratitude for those who gave so much.

I'm grateful for the civilians and service members, regardless of rank, who gave the shirts off their backs to those whose clothes were blown off or burned. They lugged medical supplies and loaded ambulances despite the heat of the day without stopping to call their families.

I am inspired by the resolve of a Navy Petty Officer who found that everyone in her operations center had perished while she had gone to get the mail. She soon realized that fear was a selfish emotion and she executed her training, maintaining her focus on the living who needed help.

I appreciate that the soda companies and snack bars didn't mind that we broke into machines and facilities to feed hungry and thirsty rescue workers. I was moved when we broke the bread of hamburger rolls and offered firemen a cup of cold water. A communion of the highest order took place as we saw compassion and kindness quench the chaos. I thank the locals who cheered fire and rescue teams as they returned to their stations after endless, exhausting hours of work.

I can't forget the generosity of McDonald's, Outback Steakhouse, and the church rotisserie chicken group who cooked nonstop, free of charge for weeks afterward for anyone working the site.

And deep admiration is due for every Pentagon worker who returned the next morning in a show of resolve that we were not deterred from duty.

Months later, I was asked to pay tribute to the Pentagon's first responders. The resulting poem, "The Best in Human Character," ended this way:

Theirs is a courageous work

Ne'er deterred when dangers lurk

The best in human character they show

And most of us would hardly know

Their valor's rarely e'er perceived

In recognition well-deserved

To our ideals and values hold

This is the American spirit, bold

To rise to help and heal

We this day would now reveal

To look on them with gratitude

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