Yesterday they took us to the newly opened George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of SMU. I was unprepared for the emotions
that welled up within me as we wandered through the displays.
The whole library gives an intimate look at Bush’s
presidency, and especially the decisions he had to make. You can even explore
an exact replica of the Oval Office, and President Bush will give you a personal tour via your own iPod.
The most riveting, and emotional, display for me was a
gigantic twisted piece of metal, parts of two girders, ripped from the Twin
Towers during the 9-11 attacks. The room housing the display is devoted to the
unfolding crisis in the aftermath of that terrible day. I stared at the steel beams, fused together by
the inferno of exploding planes and people, and I felt like weeping.
I asked the docent if I could touch it. He said I could.
Tentatively I stretched out my hand and laid it on the bare
metal. Tears filled my eyes, and I suppressed a sob. Was that ugly steel
vibrating with the screams of people whose normal day at the office became
their last day on earth? Did those beams still tremble with hatred and fear and
death?
I thought of the thousands who perished that day, passengers
on the planes, office workers, cops and firefighters who ran into the flames to
try to bring others to safety. I remembered the horrific photos of people who
chose to jump from those collapsing buildings.
I thought of thousands of men and women who have died in the war on
terror since 9-11. I gave thanks that my own son, called up a month after his
wedding, came home to us after standing a post for over a year near the
Pakistani border. As I slowly withdrew my hand, I realized that our nation and
the individual families within it were forever changed.
Sobered and reflective the rest of the day, I tried to think
why the display had such an impact on me. Three conclusions came to me,
unmistakable messages from that crooked steel.
- The misshapen metal in that room is a terrible testament that all of humankind is marred by evil. From Cain’s crushing the life out of his brother Abel to six million Jews killed by the Nazis to the persecution of Christians in Syria to the legal holocaust of abortion – evil runs like a putrid stream through our race. And it’s not just about terrorists who fly planes into buildings, but it’s also the twisted potential for unspeakable sin that lives in the hearts of all of us.
- Terrible times cry out for leaders of character, courage, and godly optimism. Nations need men and women who will stand, steadied by eternal convictions, ready to lay down their own lives for others. We need such men and women for the nation, but also for school boards, neighborhoods, churches, and families. I want to be that kind of man.
- Justice and mercy for human tragedy will never be established apart from Christ. War may be necessary, but it will never bring peace. God calls us to stand against evil, to sacrifice for others, to strive for a better world. But the only lasting peace comes from another monstrous injustice, memorialized not in twisted steel but in rough wood, iron spikes, and the shed blood of God’s own Son.
