He protects us - 2 February 2024

Just after 09:00 on the morning of September 11, 2001, the second hijacked plane crashed into the South Tower of the Twin Towers in New York, USA. With smoke billowing from the buildings and people trying to evacuate as quickly as possible, firefighters rushed into the buildings to rescue injured individuals. Among this group was Lieutenant Matt Komorowski and five other firefighters from Ladder Company 6.

Komorowski and his team were on the 90th floor of the North Tower when the South Tower collapsed. At that moment, they received the message to evacuate the building immediately. On their way down the stairs, the group found an injured woman, Josephine Harris. They picked her up and carried her down the stairs. When they reached the eighth floor, the North Tower began to collapse.

Komorowski recalls shouting at the people ahead of their group on the stairs to move faster. However, the collapse of the building couldn’t be avoided. In that moment, the unthinkable happened: the section of the stairs where they were standing (later known as Stairwell B) remained in place. All six firefighters, including Josephine, were rescued after four hours beneath the rubble. Komorowski later said he realised that it was as if they were at the exact spot they needed to be when the building started to collapse.

In Psalm 91:9-12, NIV, we read: “If you say, ‘The LORD is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

I can’t help but wonder: was there perhaps a person on those stairs who prayed for God to intervene and protect them? Did God instruct his angels to specifically hold up and protect that set of stairs from collapsing below? The stairs at the museum serves as a sign of the miracle that happened that day in New York.

God does not slumber or sleep. He is the Most High, our Protector. Let’s entrust our lives to him. He knows what is best – even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Prayer: Father God, thank you for being a safe haven for everyone who seeks refuge in you. Please protect me and my loved ones today. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen