A COFFEE MUG FROM FLIGHT 93

Twenty-five years ago, my wife and I took the day off and drove to nearby Portland, Maine to shop for a computer, which was a big purchase for us in those early years. We stopped at numerous stores in the area that day, including Walmart. While there, looking at blank CDs and CRT stands, I saw a man browsing in an aisle. I looked twice. In Maine, we say he was “from away.” Not a local. He caught my attention because of his ethnicity, so rare in Maine at that time.

He caught my glance. Our eyes locked. And he flinched away. I followed my wife into the next aisle, feeling ashamed. I hadn’t meant to intimidate the poor fellow. This happens to me. I’m kind of big and sometimes absently intense. I’ve had mothers passing me on the sidewalk pull their children away to shield them from me. True story.

The day I saw that ethnic man in Walmart was September 10th, 2001. I found out later he was none other than Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the terrorist group who flew planes into buildings on 9/11, killing thousands. Evil men intent on evil deeds. I’ll never forget it. I locked eyes with evil that day. I wish I’d known at the time. He would have seen just how intense I could have been.

The Need to Relax

Just recounting this story works me up. Agitates me. Makes me want to relax on my front porch with a great cup of freshly ground French pressed coffee, black with just a few drops of maple syrup, just like I’m drinking right now as I write this.

To this day, I mainly drink out of three coffee mugs each morning. Uh, not at the same time. You know, one each day between dish washings. Anyway, one is a mug from my former staff when I retired that reads, “Every sip tastes like not my problem anymore.” I like the mug because it reminds me of people I love. The next is a mug from Pueblo, Mexico. I’ve never been. My son bought it for me on a church missions trip. I like the colors, and it reminds me of my three sons, whom I love more than life itself. And the last is this one, which I bought at the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania.

This mug is special to me. It makes me think about things. Like good and evil. Righteousness and wickedness. Of bravery and cowardice. And which of those things I’d do when put in a desperate situation. Like what happened on Flight 93.

Flight 93

On the morning of September 11^th, 2001, 37 passengers (out of a capacity of 182) and 7 crew boarded a Boeing 757 in Newark, New Jersey. United Airlines Flight 93 was bound for San Francisco, California. Four of those passengers included: Ziad Jarrah, Ahmed al-Haznawi, Ahmed al-Nami, and Saeed al-Ghamdi.

The plane departed the gate at 8:01 am. And there it sat, experiencing significant runway traffic delays.

At 8:46 am, about the same time Flight 93 took off, American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

By 9:02 am, Flight 93 reached cruising altitude at 35,000 feet. All seemed right and good.

At 9:03 am, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

For the next 21 minutes, Flight 93 flew west as if nothing happened. At 9:24, the cockpit received its first official warning that planes had been hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center buildings. But the warnings puzzled them. Such a thing had never happened. They had no protocol for it. The cockpit doors apparently remained unlocked.

Meanwhile, the hijackers sat in their first-class seats, waiting. No one to this day knows why they stayed put so long. But they did.

At 9:28 am, the four hijackers got up as one and breached the cockpit that lay only a few feet away from them. The pilots managed to get a distress call out over the radio, the only one of four flights able to do so, likely because of the warnings and the hijacker’s inexplicable delay. But the four men wrested the controls from United pilots. The plane dropped precipitously 685 feet in thirty seconds. Sounds of screaming and a struggle shot out over the radio waves.

At 9:31 am, Ziad Jarrah, the pilot among the hijackers, said over the radio, “Ladies and gentlemen: here the captain. Please sit down, keep remaining seating. We have a bomb on board. So sit.” It’s believed he pressed the wrong button, intending to use the plane’s PA system, but instead inadvertently broadcast over aviation radio to nearby control towers. They further had difficulty disengaging the aircraft’s autopilot and likely murdered at least two of the crew and one passenger. The plane rose to 40,700 feet.

At 9:37 am, American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, the three non-pilot hijackers threatened stewardesses. They moved passengers to the rear of the plane and told them to sit down and keep quiet. The hijackers said they had a bomb on the plane. Some hijackers had fake bombs strapped to their bodies and carried box cutters.

But then, the passengers were generally left alone in the back of the plane. From 9:37 am and on, the passengers remained relatively free from hijacker harassment. Using air phones and what was then new communication technology, personal mobile phones, they were able to call authorities and people they trusted from the plane. In this manner, they learned of the other three hijacked planes and the attacks on New York and Washington, DC.

Many passengers also called loved ones. Calls that connected were not recorded. Some that did not connect were given a busy signal. Some reached a device we don’t use anymore: an answering machine. And those messages we still have available to us. At the Flight 93 Memorial, you can listen to the raw messages as they were left on those answering machines. I don’t have the time or emotional wherewithal to copy many of them. But to understand the immense emotions of that day, here’s one from passenger Lauren Cautzzi Grandcolas, calling her husband Jack at 9:39 am.

Honey, are you there? Jack? Pick up, sweety. Okay. I just wanted to tell you I love you. We’re having a little problem on the plane. I’m totally fine. I just love you more than anything. Just know that. I’m comfortable and okay. For now… I just love you. Please tell my family I love them, too. Bye, honey.

When she made that call, Lauren was three months pregnant.

In those unimaginable last moments, the passengers and remaining crew knew they were going to die. They called to inform authorities. They called to do their duty as crew. And they called to say goodbye, sharing their last breaths with those they loved most.

Resistance

And then something happened that the hijackers did not expect. The passengers chose something glorious. No longer American civilians, they chose to become something for which they will forever be remembered. As is the American way, they took an actual vote whether or not to rush the hijackers. It didn’t take long.

On that day, 40 passengers and crew became American Militiamen.

Stewardesses and passengers boiled water in glass coffee carafes. They commandeered a food cart as an impromptu battering ram to break down the cockpit door. Fire extinguishers could be used as clubs or to spray at the hijackers. They gathered butter knives and glassware from the galley and searched carry-on luggage for anything heavy or plausibly useful as a weapon.

Many prayed for the ensuing attack. Todd Beamer, a salesman, committed Christian, family man, and father of three, led them through the Lord’s Prayer and the 23^rd Psalm. When he was done, he said, “Are you ready?  Okay. Let’s roll.” Multiple passengers, in the middle of their call to loved ones, hung up mid-sentence to join the fight.

At 9:57 am, the passengers attacked. They succeeded in their effort to incapacitate the hijackers outside the cockpit. Glass shattered. People screamed and bellowed at each other. The rolling food cart repeatedly slammed into the cockpit door.

The plane began wild maneuvers, gaining some and losing a lot of altitude. Ziad Jarrah, the hijacker pilot, rolled the plane violently in attempts to throw the revolting passengers into disarray. He succeeded only in losing more altitude.

Whether or not the passengers gained entry to the cockpit is still argued today. I don't know if they did. We do know they tried hard. So hard that the pilot panicked, sending the plane into a fatal dive while chanting the name of his false god and the apparent wish for paradise as he did so.

At 10:03 am, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed inverted at a 40 degree angle nose first into a field in Stonycreek Township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The plane had roughly 6,000 pounds of jet fuel remaining, which exploded instantaneously. The fireball scorched nearby trees. Debris scattered over 40 acres, some hitting a nearby residence. One engine bounced and rolled across the field and into a stormwater pond. The rest of the aircraft buried itself 15 feet into the ground.

Every person remaining alive on board died instantly of blunt force trauma.

I’ve been to the Flight 93 Memorial. The place deeply moved me. I bought that coffee mug at the Memorial gift shop so I would never forget. Little did I know the things it would make me consider and, one day, inspire me to write this message to you.

Terrorist Hijackers

The hijackers on that day were, in my opinion, among the most despicable, heinous, and evil people to ever walk the earth. I shouldn’t say I’m glad they’re dead, but I can’t say I’m not, either. Each and every one of them had evil hearts and did despicable deeds. They killed thousands of innocent people. The hijackers deserved what they got. I’m sorry if that strikes anyone as uncharitable, but it’s how I feel about them. They deserved death. And worse.

Recently, my pastor, a good and wise friend I’ve known for many years and respect deeply, told us that we ought not ever wish someone to go to hell. He’s right. Hell is a serious place absent of God’s protection. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Fire and brimstone. Not even a little nice. I can’t imagine why anyone would choose to go there. A Christian like me certainly ought not ever wish someone, to say nothing of telling someone, to go to hell. Ever.

But when I think of my pastor’s words, Mohammed Atta and his hijackers come to mind. I just can’t help but wondering if they’re an exception. In my opinion, if anyone deserves hell, those men do, right next to child abusers and despots with concentration camps. I find myself hoping they did go to hell. They deserve it like few others.

Heroic Passengers and Crew

The passengers and crew on United Airlines Flight 93 were, in my opinion, completely different. Braver, more honorable, and more loving people have never walked the earth. Stewardesses and mothers. Salesmen and fathers. These average, ordinary, everyday Americans laid down their lives to save other people. People with names neither they nor we will ever know. This demonstrates a true love.

How do I know it’s a true love? Jesus himself said so. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 ESV. And in Romans 5:7 we find, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die,” ESV. So, someone might die for a righteous person, but for a good person? They’d maybe stop to think about it. What does this say about dying for people who are sometimes okay? In the morally gray areas? How about people who are downright evil?

The passengers of Flight 93 did just that. They did what they did for their family and friends, just in case Flight 93 crashed near them. They also did it for people they didn’t know, fellow Americans they’d never meet. Were any of those people they died for righteous or good?

How much more should we admire those heroes for such a noble act? Every one of them deserves our vocal praise and honor. We should name our schools and streets after them. On the 25^th anniversary of 9/11, I hope people throw them parades!

What they did, every one of them, should be contemplated in quiet moments of coffee on the front porch. Would I have what it takes to do what they did? Would I vote to fight back? Willingly die for someone I don’t know so they might live?

Every one of them deserves to be called righteous and good. They are the best among us. I hope every one of them is in heaven right now.

But here’s a sobering truth. Not all of them are.

Who Gets into Heaven?

This raises the question: who gets into heaven and who gets sent to hell? Surely what the hijackers did would aim them downwards. And surely the acts of the passengers and crew sent them on an upwards trajectory. Right?

I’ll tell you what I told my Sunday School kids for so many years: when you’re not sure, look for an answer in the Bible, because it’s God talking to us through his Word. We can trust the Word, because God is Truth.

First, heaven is a place without impurity. (Revelations 21:27). How pure have you been lately? Yeah, me neither.

Further, not everyone gets into heaven. The Bible is clear. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21 ESV.) Yikes. Not only will people who don’t believe in Jesus be kept from entering heaven, not even all who say they follow him will make it in.

Why? Because some people cry out to Jesus and don’t mean it. Not totally. We all do this in our lives, making a commitment but not whole-heartedly. We say it with reservations. Stipulations. Maybe a few unspoken provisos. But we can’t do that and expect to enter the kingdom of heaven. Clearly, Jesus wants your commitment without reservation. And that 100% commitment changes us, makes us into something new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17.)

That sounds like a complete change, almost like becoming a new person. A rebirth. “Jesus answered [Nicodemus], ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5.) So, yes, it’s a complete change on the spiritual level.

Turn to John 14:6. You probably already know it. “Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (ESV.)

Through Jesus? What does that mean? It means complete acceptance of, commitment for, and obedience to Jesus Christ.

How are we to live that way? Sounds impossible, right?

Well, we can’t do it. No one but Jesus has. “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation [appeasement, atonement] by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:21–25a ESV)

So. It is faith in Jesus that justifies us in the Father’s eyes. Real faith, not lip service. A faith that makes a person new. A faith that makes a person willingly follow Jesus for a lifetime, no matter how long or short.

Short like Todd Beamer’s life. He publicly professed his faith in Christ. By all accounts, he lived it authentically. A new creation.

The others on that flight? I don’t know. And that’s my point to all this. The passengers and crew of United Airlines Flight 93 did something so noble, so inherently good, that we cannot intuitively grasp it. They loved on a level most of us only glimpse during the most intense moments of worship and prayer. If anyone in the history of the planet deserves heaven, it’s them. Not me. But I will be there. Statistically speaking, some of them will not.

It’s not what you do that determines whether or not you get to heaven. It’s not even who you know. It’s who knows you. “Many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do mighty works in your name?’ And then will I [Jesus] declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:22-23 ESV.)

I don’t know about you, but those verses stop me in my tracks. It’s not what you do, no matter how good and noble those acts are. It’s not whether you think you know Jesus. It’s whether he knows you.

How Do You Know?

This raises another question. How can you possibly know he knows you?

The same way I know my pastor, my former colleagues, my wife, or my sons. The answer is relationship. We have relationship, so I know they know me. There is no relationship without communication. Therefore, communicate with God. Listen to God by reading his word. Talk to God in prayer. Spend time daily with God and ask him to give you faith in his Son. Believe in Jesus by faith and follow him.

That’s it. No number to dial. No check to write. No list of rules. Believe by faith and follow.

You can’t do the rest on your own, anyway. Perfection isn’t possible for humans in this world. None of us can obey God perfectly. The obedience is a result of relationship with God, not a list of rules to follow. And then test yourself and see. (2 Corinthians 13:5.) If you see some of the following growing in your life as you continue in relationship with Jesus, then you know.

·       Wanting to spend more time with God. Romans 12:2

·       Denying yourself and instead following Jesus. Luke 9:23, Matthew 10:38

·       Selflessness and serving others. 1 Peter 4:10, Galatians 5:13, Philippians 2:3

·       Loving one another. John 13:34-35, Romans 15:7

·       Desiring to attend church. Hebrews 10:25

·       Sharing Jesus with others. Romans 10:17

·       Demonstrating fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23

·       Read the bible and find more!

Did everyone on United Airlines Flight 93 have this relationship with Jesus? Some did. I suspect Todd led others to God just before he said his famous words. Yet others likely fought against the hijackers with noble sacrifice and missed the bigger picture. This makes me weep.

The What If

Now comes the other side of this coin. For this, I leave documented facts and enter the world of storytelling. The world of what ifs.

What if the passengers did make it through that cockpit door? What if Todd Beamer attempted to wrestle the flight yolk out of Ziad Jarrah’s hands? Remember he was that hijacker flying the plane. The man repeatedly intoned, “Give it to me,” as the plane dove towards doom, which was supposed by many to mean he begged Allah for Islam’s story of paradise complete with virgins and hairless giants ninety feet tall.

But what if Todd, knuckles white as he wrenched at the yolk, looked Ziad Jarrah in the wide eyes and said, “You’ve got it all wrong. Follow Jesus.” And while men grunted with strain and snarled in battle, and the ground spun in the cockpit windows, hurtling at them at 563 miles per hour, what if God called that heinous terrorist? What if Ziad Jarrah accepted through faith in Jesus just before 140,000 pounds of aluminum smeared him into the Pennsylvania landscape? Would he go to heaven?

I want to say no. He didn’t deserve it.

But then again, neither do I. And neither do you.

Only God can know these things, of course. This is a hypothetical story I made up of that last moment in the cockpit of Flight 93. But if it happened, and if we believe what God teaches in the Bible, then the uncomfortable answer is yes. We would see Ziad Jarrah in heaven.

What About Fairness?

Does this seem fair? No, it doesn’t. Not to me.

Here is not where I hit you with the saying that God’s ways are far above my ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9.) It's true, but in this situation, it seems trite. Instead, let me show you how we can understand just how fair this would be.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9.) You see, not one of us can get into heaven on our own. If I could, I’d spend eternity bragging about it to all you other slackers who needed Jesus. How arrogant would that be? What an affront to the spirit and grace of God!

So why would some passengers and crew of Flight 93 not be in heaven, but a terrorist hijacker plausibly could be?

Jesus. When the day of judgement comes, the Father will give judgement to Jesus, his Son (John 5:22). And Jesus will separate those whom he knows from those he does not, those who obeyed him out of love from those who did not (Matthew 25:31-32). And Jesus said he accepts those he knows, those in relationship with him.

A terrorist hijacker could be in heaven instead of a noble American militiaman, and it would glorify God and his amazing grace. It would demonstrate that though we don’t deserve it, Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross to die, paying the price for each one of us that accepts.

That is a God worth taking seriously.

This is what I think about when I sit on my porch drinking good hot black coffee out of my Flight 93 coffee mug. And I relax, secure in the knowledge that I know Jesus, and he knows me. And someday I will slap and bump Todd Beamer’s fist, smile, and say, “Let’s roll.”