(Dr. Richard Riss is a professor at Somerset Christian College, formerly known as Zarephath Bible Institute in New York City. His specialty is research on revivals, and his work on the Latter Rain movement in North Battleford, Saskatchewan in Canada is one of the best books on that subject. Here he tells us of some of the "silver lining" he perceived in the few days after the World Trade disaster on September 11, 2001 in New York.)
"My wife Kathryn and I reside close enough to the World Trade Center that the twin towers were clearly visible from Washington Rock in our neighborhood. It is called Washington Rock because General George Washington used that site in the late 1770s to observe movements of British troops throughout large portions of this area.
"On Tuesday, the day of the disaster, we were at Washington Rock at about 1:30 p.m, and saw the huge column of smoke billowing from the site of the disaster and stretching down a large portion of the New Jersey coast as far as Long Branch and beyond.
"The radio reports today (Thursday, Sept. 13) indicated that, as far as is now known, the number of missing and dead is at approximately five thousand. The World Trade Center on any given work day was generally populated by approximately 55,000 office workers, not including visitors, clients, and sightseers. This means that it is possible that ninety percent of the people were successfully evacuated prior to the collapse of the two towers. While this fact is of little help to those who didn't make it, or to their loved ones, it was of tremendous benefit to the ninety percent who did escape and for their families.
"It may also be that God kept a large number of people away from the disaster, who ordinarily should have been there on the job. Yesterday evening, at our chapel meeting at Somerset Christian College, our student government chaplain, Cathy Thompson-Fix, said that earlier in the day, when she had spoken to a group of people who had worked at the World Trade Center, approximately fifteen of them said that they wanted to get to work on time on Tuesday morning, September 11, but various circumstances detained them despite their best efforts to arrive at work on time.
"In one case, an individual was taking his daughter to school prior to leaving for the World Trade Center, and as they arrived at the school, the girl realized that she had forgotten her schoolbooks. He took her to their home to get her books, and returned her to the school. As a result, he missed his train and had to take a ferry to southern Manhattan. Halfway to the destination, he witnessed the first plane crash of the disaster. He was then very glad that he had been late.
"Another individual, on her way to work, felt an irresistible urge to stop for coffee, which she had never done before in all of her years as a commuter. She stopped for coffee, and this made her just late enough to avoid the disaster.
"Cathy said that she talked to about thirteen others with similar stories. Cathy said that she also learned that one individual was on the 102nd floor of one of the towers when it collapsed floor by floor, and that he survived the rapid floor by floor descent with only a broken leg, and no further injuries.
"Another student in the chapel service, Dan Croson, said that on Monday evening he had a long conversation with a friend which lasted so late into the night that this friend was very late leaving for work at the World Trade Center the following morning, Sept. 11. This was one time when he was very glad he was late, since he missed being caught in the explosions and collapse of the buildings.
"On the other hand, we know others who are still missing, including the son of one of the leaders of the local Fish organization, a Christian organization that has supplied food, clothing, and housing to the needy in our area for a number of decades. Nevertheless, my purpose in writing is to provide a variety of indications that God remains active, even in the midst of horror.
"It is my understanding that the construction of the two towers of the World Trade Center was unique in at least two respects. First, due to the redundancies in the way the two towers were built, they were among the very few buildings in the world that could withstand the impacts that they received (although eventually they could not withstand the heat of the blasts that they received, which melted the steel at about 1600 degrees Fahrenheight, causing the collapse of the buildings). Just about any other kind of building would likely have collapsed immediately. This provided time for many people to get out before the towers collapsed.
"Secondly, the towers were constructed differently from most other buildings in that each floor was attached to an outer prefabricated skeleton. This outer skeleton is what supported the building. Because of this construction design, the towers, in turn, fell vertically upon themselves, floor by floor. As a result of this, the buildings were not toppled over onto huge sections of the surrounding area. If that had happened, there could have been two results. First, there could have been a domino effect, causing a series of buildings to fall throughout Manhattan. Equally importantly, if the two towers had not been somewhat self-contained in the way they collapsed, the toppled towers would have spread burning debris very far and wide, causing dangerous fires throughout huge sections of New York City.
"None of this reduces the magnitude of what has actually happened both here and in Washington, D.C. But it does indicate that things could very easily have been much, much worse. But regardless of anything else, the promise of Romans 8:28 still stands:
"We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
"Thanks so much for all of your prayers on our behalf!
"With warm personal greetings to all of you in the Lamb,
Richard M. Riss
© 2001, Doreen Palmer