New York Disciples Remember 9/11

Editor’s note: At 8:46 am on Saturday, September 11^th, 2021, the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, the bells of all the worship houses in New York City will toll together, for the lives lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center, twenty years ago this month. Every year on the anniversary of 9/11, family members gather at the memorial at ground zero in Lower Manhattan to read aloud the names of those who died in the tragedy. Our hearts are with our brothers and sisters in our ICOC churches in the tri-state area of New York and New Jersey and Connecticut as they commemorate the event that many say changed our lives forever. We’re grateful to our sisters from the New York church, who have taken the time to share their first-hand experiences with us. We are proud to tell their stories in three parts: the first appeared on September 3^rd; the second yesterday, on September 10^th, and this last piece today on the twentieth anniversary of September 11^th.

By Shalawn Facey

I worked full-time for HOPE Worldwide in 2001. My daily commute to our offices in Patterson, NJ, included a transfer to the PATH train at the World Trade Center. However, on the morning of 9/11 I had to go a different route. I swiped my MetroCard but it didn’t work. I tried multiple times -- no luck. I missed my train. Frustrated I’d be late, I tried one last time and it worked. I took the next train to the Trade Center to catch the PATH.

As we pulled into the station, there was commotion. We exited the train and people were running toward us, away from the entrances to the Trade Center! We were all told that we could not enter and instead had to leave immediately. There were whispers of a bomb or bomb threat.

Not understanding, I remember again being frustrated about further delays. I was also annoyed that someone was threatening harm.

As I made my way outside, I was not prepared for what I saw. This was no threat, but reality. There were huge blocks of concrete all around. There were smaller pieces still falling from the sky. I looked up at the towers and was shocked to see flames shooting out of one of the buildings. Was it a real bomb? What was going on?!

We were ushered across the street from the towers to the Post Office. There I stood with many other people, shocked and confused. I waited my turn at the pay phone to call my husband because there was no cell signal. When I looked up again at the towers, I saw people hanging out of windows, maybe 80 stories up. Then, inexplicably, people were jumping to escape the flames - I saw some holding hands. I quickly put my head back down.

Shortly afterwards, I heard a rumble and a crash. Huge pieces of concrete started pelting the ground around me. I learned later it was the second plane hitting the other tower. Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me inside a building. I don't know if it was a male or female, a guard, or even a person at all. I just know that I was pulled inside to safety.

Pushing through the shock and fear to find new safe places, we heard another deafening sound. We looked toward the twin towers, now covered in thick smoke, and realized one of the towers was falling. Police directed everyone to run north. As we ran, I looked back and felt like the smoke was chasing us, like a monster. We tried to outrun the monster but finally it caught up and enveloped us in a cloud of smoke. You couldn't see your hand in front of you. (I later found out that there were a few disciples that saw me running in that moment on the news).

Fleeing north I ran into a fellow member of the New York City church. As we continued together, we heard news from a car radio that the pentagon was also hit. Then a woman let us come into her apartment so we could use her phone. I was finally able to contact my husband and parents. We headed out on foot towards Queens, joining a sea of people over the 59th Street Bridge. As we walked, I felt afraid and thought, “What if another plane hit the bridge we were on?” We eventually made it off the island safely.

The motto for 9/11 has been “Never Forget”. I won’t. I can’t. I have come a long way since then,  but I will never forget. Looking back, as we arrive at the 20-year commemoration, there are some things I know and am convinced of:

·         If my MetroCard worked that day, I would have been in the World Trade Center.

·         I would not have been safe in that building if someone or something wasn’t sent by God to protect me. With all that was falling around me I had not one scratch.

·         The woman I met, the brother I connected with. God placed them in my path so I would not be alone that day.

Isaiah 41:13 For I am the Lord your God who take hold of you right hand and says to you Do not fear; I will help you.

Survivor’s guilt is real. But through it all, I’m grateful that God is faithful; and I’m humbled that he covered me that day and that, twenty years later, he continues to cover me with his care.