Remembering September 11, 2001; I was Supposed to Be There that Morning!

I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. My partner and I were doing radio promotions for a German based record company called Groove Attack Records. We were working several of their projects to college, underground, community and internet radio including Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest's solo debut album.

Each month they sent money to all those that had to pay through a company located in Building 7 (the third building to fall). The first few times we went to get our checks we sat there waiting in the office for several hours. So I worked it out with them, where they would let us know when they finished processing the check and we would go pick it up first thing the next day!

It was a Tuesday; I remember my day was laid out, pick up the check, cash it, pay my Sprint bill, get a haircut and pick up the Jay Z CD that dropped that day. For whatever reason I couldn't get a confirmation they had finished processing the check, Monday before they closed. They told me just come first thing in the morning. Again after waiting for several hours the months before that, I wanted to know I could just run through pick up the check and be on my way.

Since I didn't get a definite answer that it would be ready when I got there, I slept in that day. We had been running day and night, working this Phife Dawg project and most underground radio shows are late night/ early morning (between midnight & 6 am). I was enjoying the extra sleep.

My phone rings and I hear my partner DJ Reality calling my yelling, '˜Are you awake? Are you watching television? We're being attacked!" Not fully awake I thing she bugging out and I turn on the TV to see the first tower in flames and the reply of the plane flying into the first tower. I'm looking at the TV like this cant be real. Before I can say much I see a second plane flying into the other tower.

I remember thinking; it was like a movie, like Independence Day or something, saying to myself this can't be real. The first plane flew into the tower about 8:46 and the second about 9:05am. I was supposed to be at Building 7 at 9am. For those who don't know the subway runs directly under the Towers. So at the very least I would have been riding an escalator up to the platform where you cross over to Building 7 as this was all going down.

My mind is running a mile a minute as I turn through the channels and look at all the destruction and debris. I find out later my best friend's younger sister was in tower two when the plane hit it and he could see it from the window of the building he worked in. They didn't find her body until March 28th the Thursday before Good Friday. Like everyone else I sat clued to the TV watching every detail I could. God for some reason had spared my life, at the very least spared me from being down there as it was going down. As I recall the details of that day like a movie, where you keep hitting rewind to see what you missed, I realized once again how much I am blessed to be alive.

I don't want to preach to anyone, but it reminded me that tomorrow isn't promised to anyone. No one who died that day knew they were living there last hours/ minutes/ seconds on Earth. If they did, I wonder how many who thought they had time to get right with God would have made it a priority before they left their house. I say that to say, we always thing we have time, but someone reading this now might not live to see the end of today.

In closing I reach out to all who do not have a relationship with God. To all of those who do not know Jesus Christ as their savior, not to put it off until tomorrow. If September 11, 2001 and so many other situations since have taught us anything, tomorrow is not promised to no one. Those of you who know you are saved, do you have people in your life who aren't saved and you miss an opportunity to share your faith with them everyday. Again I say please don't put it off any longer! I am preaching to myself as well. This is what I think of today as I remember September 11, 2001!!!