In September 2001, my husband and I had been married a year. We had just moved back to NYC after living that first year in another state where Brian had been assigned a short project through IBM, the company he worked. Life back in the City had been exciting- Brian was looking into new job opportunities, AND I was looking forward to reconnecting with my friends, whom I had greatly missed.
We found a rental on the 24th floor of a building in the Financial & Wall Street district with a terrace overlooking the WTC. Everything about life seemed new and exciting, full of possibilities.
On the morning of 9-11, I was awakened by Brian screaming that a bomb had gone off in the WTC. We rushed onto the terrace, and watched the scene before us: people running across the highway to the Hudson river, the ambulances, fire trucks, and police speeding down the highway, as well as the fire that shot out from either side of the building. A few minutes later, a plane came streaking over our right- hand shoulders and went straight into Tower #2. We were blown back into our building from that impact and came to on the floor of our living room. That began the craziness for us: evacuating our building, the buildings coming down and being covered by the dust, the black smoke we worried was going to asphyxiate us, and eventual evacuation to New Jersey. We made our way back some days later into the City, staying with first with friends, then with a kind stranger. We were in depression and shock, made even worse by our dog becoming sick after licking the dust that covered him in an attempt to clean himself. We were told the glass in the dust had shredded his esophagus.
Thank you, Lord, for working through Redeemer to aid us during a terrible time, and in the process giving us a church home and church family and ministries that re-set the course of our lives.
I became very worried about the Vet expense and other mounting bills while being displaced, but we were not used to asking for help. A close Christian friend told me to go to Redeemer Presbyterian Church for monetary help. She told me people from all over the world had donated aid to Redeemer and I should apply. Brian and I weren’t members or even regular attenders, and were still in the process of choosing a church. She urged me to go anyway.
The Director of the division that helps and the Associate handled things with such dignity and grace and allayed my embarrassment over being there, and quickly produced a check that covered our bills. Of course a church that made us feel so comfortable made us decide to have Redeemer as our home church. Fast forward to the present, Brian is the Director of Operations of Redeemer and I (Christina) run the Missions department. Many congregants are among our closest friends, and our careers turned into ministries. Thank you, Lord, for working through Redeemer to aid us during a terrible time, and in the process giving us a church home and church family and ministries that re-set the course of our lives.