This Friday will be September 11, 2009...that date, 9/11, has become much more than just a date.

You can't say "September 11th" without chills going up your spine, even after all these years, no matter where you were that day.

I can remember every moment of that day, from the first call I received that a terrible "accident" had occurred when a plane hit the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m. (EST) to the second call at 9:03 a.m. that the second Trade Center building had been hit by a plane too.

I was in Chicago and we had emergency response plans city-wide, just in case of an event like this.

As soon as I heard of the second plane, I knew what was happening and called my contact at the Chicago FBI Office and asked if Chicago was next. They stated they did not know, but there were several airplanes unaccounted for and no one knew where they were headed.

We put plans into effect that we never thought we would have to do - shutting all the public venues in Chicago down, sending staff and visitors home or back to their hotels, and locking down our facilities with security personnel...and just "waiting".

Hours later I would walk out into a street on Chicago's lake front, usually bustling with activity, noise, cars...and planes.

But it was just me and some Chicago police personnel (who had set up barricades on key streets). We just stood there with the most surreal feeling of silence and of helplessness.

Everyone just wanted to be home with their families.

Thousands of people lost their lives that day and we should never forget them along with the brave emergency services personnel who rushed into those buildings, hoping to save lives, only to lose their own.

And the security personnel, who you never really heard much about, but they stayed at their posts in those buildings, not letting anyone back in after the evacuation, only to fall victim themselves.

September 11, 2001 showed our weaknesses and our strengths, but most of all it showed how much we need God, because in the end, that is all that really matters.

The following website link is CNN's chronology of that day (click here).

So, this Friday, at 8:45am, 9:03am, 9:43am, and 10:10am - stop, remember, and pray.

Jeff Hawkins

Executive Director