Today I sat my children down and read to them what I had written about my day on September 11, 2001. I thought I’d share it with my dear readers as well. I’ve changed names and only slightly edited it so that you can understand. It’s nothing spectacular and is full of needless stories. It doesn’t even have a complete ending. But, here ya go.

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Mark 24:6

9~11

Psalms 91:1

I am writing this the day after the nations tragedy.

My alarm woke me at 6:00am. I got dressed, checked my e-mail, gave Jeremy a kiss and left for work. I was a few minutes late and really shouldn’t have been because we had a new girl training with me. When I reached the coffee shop Stacy was sitting outside. I introduced myself and we went in the shop and began brewing the coffees. I put my make-up on and by then people were coming into the shop.

The first girl that came in was a past employee that I didn’t know. She was now working at Speedway and thought her gas station was just robbed. She said a brick was thrown through the window.

The day went on as normal. Stacy and I were really getting along. We even gave her her own special of the day. “Stacy’s Specialle Latte” {I had accidentally spelled Special wrong}. It was a caramel, vanilla and chocolate latte.

Jeremy called me around 8:45ish with a rather cheery voice. He then said “I’m sorry to tell you this but Tim is cutting our check this morning and we should have the money by early next week!” I couldn’t believe it! I was so excited! Jeremy’s father had passed away last February and we were told we would receive an insurance check. Well, we waited eight months and we’re finally getting it! We know that I need a new car and our debt needs paid off, after that we’re going to save it for a house! When I got off the phone I was smiling ear to ear!

Rebecca had come in earlier and brought muffins and cookies. She was still there and I told her the great news! While Stacy was making drinks I showed Becky my high school scrapbook that I was working on. Reba came in the shop and I told her how I painted my sliding glass doors of our apartment. She had helped us paint the windows of the coffee shop. I had painted our doors because people were looking in our apartment and telling the management that we had a cat. So I wanted people to stay away so I made sure they couldn’t watch us anymore. I made a nice autumn scene of pumpkins, a bare tree with leaves falling off and a hay barrel. Rebecca went home and Reba left.

A man came into the shop, I don’t know his name, but he works with the local college band and gets coffee almost every day. Really nice guy. Stacy is one of his students so they spoke for a while. She told him she was starting a girl band.

The phone rang so I answered it. It was Rebecca. She told me that a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center. I told her to keep us up to date and I hung up the phone. I stood in shock and had my mouth open. The man asked “what?” And I told Stacy and him what had happened. At the time I had no idea what the World Trade Center was, but I knew it was an important building.

Throughout our shift we spoke with customers about what was going on. Either we told them what had happened or they were updating us. Rebecca called again and told us that a plane crashed into the pentagon or that it was bombed. She wasn’t sure but she knew it was on fire. We were also told that people were jumping out of the World Trade Center.

I began silently crying. All I could think was “this is Revelation…” I went over to sit down while Stacy worked and I began praying. I prayed for those injured, their families and for the nation. Ida Jean called and told us about the Pentagon also. She works at the photography studio and was in to get coffee earlier. Two men came in and told us that one of the men had just arrived in Columbus from Baltimore. He said as they were taking off they were showing the WTC being hit. I called Jeremy to make sure he knew what was going on. He informed me of other events that had occurred. A plane crashing in Pittsburgh, a bomb on a plane in Cleveland and how the second WTC was hit. We later learned that both buildings collapsed. I gave Stacy my phone so she could call her mom who lives and teaches school in Maryland. It took a long time to get through, all of the phones were tied up, at least the cell phones. Her mom was ok and said everything was fine.

Stacy and I went outside because we had no customers. We kept the door open while she sat on the steps and I walked around waiting for the coffee shop owner, Julie. to show up. After hanging out for a while Julie finally called and told us she was on her way. Stacy had to leave but not soon after Judy showed up. She was really shaken. All she could think about was the Left Behind novels. Since this was kind of my last day at the coffee shop I had brought my camera. Julie wouldn’t even let me take her picture.

I left my scrapbook so she could look at it. I had to return at 2pm anyhow because she didn’t have anyone to work. I left and as I did every car had talk radio on. When I reached my truck my favorite christian radio station was still playing music. I checked the popular secular channel and they had talk on. I drove home and watched Fox News. I even got my Left Behind video and played it in the bedroom. Instead of watching news or the movie I went on the computer. My friend, Bethany, invited me into a chat to talk about what was happening. I was also checking out CNN.com. My mom was online so I talked to her and she said that Osama Ben Laden was to blame. I had no idea who he was. So she told me and I also searched online. I remembered reading the Columbus Dispatch a few weeks ago. The front page had an article about Colin Powell ignoring someones threats. I now assume it was Bin Laden he was ignoring.

Bethany put a message online that Bush was speaking. I ran downstairs and watched. It wasn’t live because the terrorists would have known where the president was. So it was recorded in Shreveport, Louisiana. All I could remember was president Bush saying “Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.” It was such a strong statement in many ways.

I went back upstairs and chatted a little while. My phone rang so I ran down to answer it. It was Julie saying that I didn’t have to go in to work again because Tasha was going to work. I told her all of the updates and that I would be in later anyways.

I left for the American Red Cross. I had called two close relatives to go with me but neither one was allowed to donate blood. So I went on to go donate alone. I drove to the ARC, but it wasn’t there anymore. I called my grandmother to ask her where it had moved and she didn’t know, but said there was one in downtown Columbus. While I was on my cell phone I saw the ARC sign. So I hung up, parked and walked to the office. It was packed! There was a line out the door and people were sitting outside filling out their papers. I went in, signed up and received my paper to fill out. After I filled out my paper I went to turn it in and I noticed they were turning people away. I told them I would come back the next day to lessen their workload.

I called my my husband and grandmother and told them how crowded it was. I also told them about how a 20 year old boy was getting frustrated with the wait and said “I’m gonna start pushing people outta the say.” Funny how he wanted to do something good for others but couldn’t be polite to people right next to him.

I went home and got the mail. Another complaint from our apartment complex…saying we didn’t sign a pet agreement, even though we did. It made me mad, but it was pretty insignificant compared to all the events happening. I watched the news and checked in online every so often. Downtown Columbus was in a lock down and Ohio State University had cancelled classes. I got a phone call from our pastors wife, Lydia, asking if her sons were still having football practice {my husband was their coach}. I told her I would call her back. By the time I got through to my husband and called Lydia back she must have left of something. So I left a message saying that they were having chapel at the football field and the boys don’t have to come but they’re more than welcome to. After I hung up, the phone rang again. It was a job offer for me for the next four weeks testing cash registers. I accepted and was told to come in on Thursday at 9:00am.

A half an hour later, or so, Jeremy came home. I went upstairs and got dressed and we went to the football field at the church. The high school team was practicing. The head coach, Daniel, just arrived also. So Jeremy and I went to the office room and we all talked. Mainly about the gas prices. When I was online earlier I saw that Oklahoma City was up to $6/gallon! Jeremy said when he was driving home the gas stations were overfilled. Daniel told us about one of the women who was on the plane that crashed in PA. Her came was Barbara Olsen. She had written a book about Hilary Clinton and was kind of a co-anchor for CNN. She was supposed to fly out on Monday but her husbands birthday was on Tuesday so she changed her flight to have breakfast with him. Well, while she was on the plane she called her husband to tell him what was going on. That was the last time he would speak with his wife.

We left the office when we saw some of the boys showing up. Jeremy got them started by having them run around the field. Some of the fathers began pointing to the sky. Everyone knew that all flights in the United States had been cancelled but there were three planes flying next to each other. They were headed east so we assumed it was the president. The boys practiced and I chatted with Daniel’s wife. They had a very short practice and we all gathered together to listen to Buzz, another coach and also a pastor, talk to the boys. The high school team had broken up into small groups and were praying together. Buzz asked the kids how they felt about what was going on. Most said they didn’t know what was going on and didn’t think it was a big deal. But that later they realized it was a big deal and didn’t know what to think, kind of scared.

9 – 11 – WILL WE CONNECT THE DOTS? 
by Flip Benham

“A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed-without remedy.” Proverbs 29:1.

On April 14, 1912, the Titanic was given at least seven different warnings that large ice-burgs filled the North Atlantic Ocean through which she was traveling. Believing however that she was unsinkable, and desiring to make record time across the Atlantic, Captain Smith increased her speed. The warnings went unheeded.

In 1938, Neville Chamberlain proclaimed, “Peace in our time,” as he surrendered Czechoslovakia to appease the Nazi regime. Winston Churchill warned time and again that Hitler would not be appeased, but must be destroyed. His warnings went unheeded and the world was plunged into war.

America has been warned in horrific ways that if she continues on her path, she too will be destroyed without remedy. Will we heed the warnings?

9-11 was a strong warning (rebuke) from God to America. Unfortunately, how we remember and memorialize this tragedy will be left in the hands of the media. Will they ever get it right? They missed it the first time. Can we expect them to get it right now? Oh, they will come up with some moving documentaries, interviews, and pictures of that day coupled with soft music that will make us all cry. Not a hard thing to do considering the magnitude of this national catastrophe.

They will cover the ceremonies, songs, flag-waving speeches, and prayers that will turn our hearts back to an America of not so long ago. I’m sure we’ll sing one more agonizing stanza of “God Bless America.”Please! The stories of heroism will abound, and rightly so, for ordinary Americans did so many extraordinary things.

Of one thing we can be certain – the first anniversary of 9-11 will be left on a positive note. This is the ubiquitous “must” that will pervade every newscast, talk-show, speech, and prayer. We will not see again the body parts that filled the streets underneath the World Trade Center. We will not see the people waving sheets and flags from the windows and jumping from the buildings. No more human carnage. What we will see is a sanitized version of 9-11, with none of the graphic horror that filled the airwaves that day.

Why? So that we can, as quickly as possible, escape the traumatizing and graphic message God is sending and get back to normal as soon as possible. In so doing, however, we are ignoring the warning.

I am not just talking about the liberal media coverage (CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, etc.) with its blind, self-serving bias and visceral animus toward God. I am talking about the media as a whole, including conservative and Christian media coverage (FOX News, CBN, TBN, conservative talk radio, Christian talk radio, etc.). The utter failure to see, comprehend, and portray the obvious truth of what has happened to our nation is startling!

God Himself is judging our nation! Make no mistake about it! Let those who have eyes to see, see and those who have ears to hear, hear. The last thing we need is another “feel good” remembrance. America has been weighed in the scales and found wanting. We have expelled God from school, banished Him from the schoolyard, ripped His Ten Commandments from the walls, removed Him from the workplace, and told Him that He has no place in our government – separation of church and state, you know. And yet, we have the colossal gall to ask Him to bless America.” Do we think He has lost His mind?

We have made it abundantly clear that, at this point in our national history, we don’t need Him. He, however, is making it abundantly clear that we do!

Blood is coursing down the corridors of our schools, workplaces, and streets. We have sown bloodshed in the womb and we are reaping its horrible harvest in our streets. Over 45 million children have been killed by abortion in this nation and their blood is crying out to God for an accounting. The accounting has come. God has not been silent! Unfortunately, we have been very slow to hear His voice. “…Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.” Ezekiel 35:6b.

Yes, bloodshed will pursue us when we shed blood in the womb. Let’s connect the dots between the slaughter of over 45 million children and the incredible wave of violence that is sweeping across the landscape of America. God is graphically illustrating the fact that if a nation sows bloodshed in the womb, it will reap bloodshed in the streets.

Kids are killing kids in our nation’s schools without a whimper of conscience. When we teach our kids how to kill a child to solve the problem of an “unwanted pregnancy,” we should not be surprised when they apply that solution to other problems. If your girlfriend dumps you, or friends treat you badly, or you find yourself in a school where nobody likes you – kill them! Bloodshed is pursuing America.

We have so devalued life in the womb that murder has become the solution for almost every problem we face. Earth becoming overpopulated? Kill the children. Getting too old to live a quality life? Kill the old. Left a witness at the scene of the crime? Kill the witness. Don’t like your fellow worker? Kill him. Got a child with Down Syndrome? Kill the child. Bloodshed is pursuing America.

This bloodshed and violence is the inevitable result of casting God behind our backs. It is the epitome of godlessness and selfishness. “It’s all about me! I kill others to make it better for me.” We, in America, have declared that there is no God, no standard, and no absolute truth apart from us. We have become a law unto ourselves. We have removed God from our society and are suffering the horrible consequences of our foolish arrogance. Bloodshed is pursuing America and we are powerless to stop it. Bloodshed is pursuing America and we are powerless to stop it.

This violence is the enemy destroying us from within, now we turn to an enemy bent on destroying us from without – Islam! Let’s connect the dots between the slaughter of over 55 million children in the womb and the fact that 19 men with box cutters brought this nation to its knees. Who could have imagined before 9-11 that 19 guys could have done such damage to our nation and our national psyche? It would have been considered unbelievable. It still is!

But God has not been silent about the slaughter of His unborn children. “”I will set My face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.”” Leviticus 26:17. Islam is that enemy God has allowed to be raised up to bring His rebuke to America. Bloodshed is pursuing us.

On 9-8-01, nineteen Christians were arrested on the sidewalk in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. They were there to appeal to President Bush for the lives of children frozen in petri dishes in medical labs throughout this nation. During the summer of 2001, the President had signed into law, governmental support and financing for “Embryonic Stem Cell Research.” Though he limited its scope and the number of stem cell lines to be used, he opened the door for research on the most defenseless, voiceless child of all – the child in the dish! God was not silent about this sin!

He brought His warning through the 19 gentle Christians who knelt on the sidewalk of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They prayed that God would bring repentance into the heart of our President. For the first time in our nation’s history, a “Christian” President legitimized the devil’s argument that human life is relative and not sacred. Mr. Clinton may have railed against the standard of the sanctity of life, but it was President Bush who legitimized the relative nature of human life: “You can experiment on these children, but you can’t experiment on those.” This was the last straw!

Before they were arrested, a District of Columbia policeman addressed the group and said, “This is your third and final warning.” Upon hearing the “third and final warning,” one of them, Bible in hand, stood and proclaimed, “No, America, this is your third and final warning!” He then read from Deuteronomy 32:25: “In the street the sword will make them childless; in their homes terror will reign. Young men and young women will perish, infants and gray-haired men.”

For three days this prophetic witness was proclaimed from the noisy streets of our nation’s capital during the week preceding 9-11. Warning after prophetic warning was issued at various governmental gates by men of God. They were calling for congressmen, cabinet members, our President, and anyone who would listen to repent of the killing of children in the womb and in the dish, and turn to God. Many times the words were proclaimed, “We’ve sown bloodshed in the womb and we shall soon reap bloodshed in the streets. America, turn to Jesus!” The warning went unheeded.

The tragic fulfillment of this prophetic witness came three days later on 9-11. Airplanes filled with precious human lives crashed into buildings, also filled with precious human lives, because 19 men serving a false god did not value those lives. Islam believes that human life is valuable only inasmuch as it submits to Allah and his prophet Mohammed. Yes, according to Islam, the value of human life is relative. If it is not in submission to Allah, it can and should be killed. Sound familiar? We are reaping the horrible consequences of what we have sown. Bloodshed is pursuing America.

God has not been silent! But we have not listened to His voice and the media has done its best to cover it up. It is only because He loves us that we have not been totally annihilated. “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” Romans 2:4. He is calling us to return to Him – not to return to the days before 9-11. He is calling us to REPENT!

God’s message to America – REPENT! Not remember, not reflect, but REPENT!

God spoke through His prophet Isaiah to the nation of Israel, “…In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Isaiah 30:15.

Like America today, Israel did not believe that she was the one who needed to repent. She tried to fix her problems by building alliances and buying her way out of the consequences God had brought upon her. Of course these consequences had come because she had turned her back Him. He had more disaster, however, than her little government had relief. Israel was destroyed as a nation because she refused to heed His warnings and repent. God Himself had become her enemy (Isaiah 63:10).

History is a good teacher. We would do well to heed its lessons. It is an absurdity to ask God to bless America, when we have killed over 45 million of His children and are bent on killing even more. He is calling us to repent of this heinous slaughter.

There is no alliance that will rescue us from the enemies His wrath will bring. There is no amount of money that will buy His favor. There is no new technology that will remedy the calamities of His anger. There is only repentance!

The media cannot and will not connect the dots of God’s message to America on 9-11. It has neither eyes to see, nor ears to hear. It is up to us then, who do have eyes to see and ears to hear, to connect the dots.Let the connecting begin!

“…if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Flip Benham

It was just over a year ago that I began my journey with Invisalign through Carolinas Dental Center. And to this day I don’t regret doing it! And you wanna know why?

Because our teeth are constantly shifting!

I have photographic proof I’ll show at the bottom.

So for those who haven’t read my older posts let me explain quickly how Invisalign works. They’re really easy, invisible braces. First you get molds taken of your teeth. They then send the molds off and your aligners are sent back. How many months you’ll have to wear them will depend on how much your teeth need to be fixed. Mine took six months. Here I had thought my teeth were fine and, afterall, I had just had braces and a permanent retainer. But over the next 14 years my teeth decided they didn’t like how my orthodontist had “fixed” them and decided to find a new place to sit.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t too convinced that my teeth even needed adjusted. When Dr. Phelps showed me videos of how my teeth were going to be after the Invisalign I couldn’t believe it. Did I mention that I had just had years of braces and retainers!!

Invisalign is better in that you are given lifelong invisible aligners that you will wear at night for the rest of your life. Forever and ever. Amen.

I’m a slacker. There are times when I’m just too tired to deal and so I’ll go a couple nights without wearing it. Wanna see what happens?

Not too bad, right? After all, they were only off for two nights.

I wore my aligners the next night and look at the difference.

Crazy, right? So if you’re putting off getting your teeth straight then, sister, be warned, they’re only going to get worse.

Afraid of the cost? Well then check out this awesome opportunity! Carolinas Dental Center puts on a customer appreciation party every year. During this event you can win all sorts of crazy things. ipads, tv’s, etc. And for this single day they take off $1000 on Invisalign! I’ve even had friends say they’ll come from out of state for that deal!

Maybe you’re in the south Charlotte area and you’re looking for a dentist. We can not say enough about the staff at Carolinas Dental. When I was going in every month for new aligners they became like family! I think I went through withdrawal when I didn’t have anymore appointments. CDC staff, I miss you. Come out on October 26th and meet the doctors and staff. They are extremely caring. Not too mention they saved my daughter from an unnecessary crown that a neighboring dentist tried to force on her. They care about you as a person, not as just a client.

I hope you can make it!!

Blessings!