Americans were horrified by what we saw that day. As the flames engulfed the towers, it dawned on us the terrible choice our fellow countrymen in those towers faced—”Should I burn alive or jump?” We witnessed with our own eyes what they chose. We watched in real time as so many of them leapt to their deaths from the towers. For my generation, the “falling man” has been forever etched in our memory. We will never forget him.

Not only did we see the airplanes crashing and the flames smoldering. Even as we sat stunned looking at the two towers ablaze, we also received the ominous report that the Pentagon had been hit. That symbol of our national might and security was engulfed in flames. The meaning of that building being under direct attack was not lost on anyone. We thought, “They can attack us there? If they can hit the Pentagon, what can’t they hit?”

The emotion of that day has left an indelible mark on me. The uncertainty. The questions. The threat of a coming war with unidentified enemies. The horror of watching all those people die. The specter of gas shortages and economic collapse. As the buildings smoldered, we had no idea who was doing this to us, and we didn’t know what was coming next. We all felt like another attack was imminent. We were just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Los Angeles? Chicago? Atlanta? Surely it was coming.

For the first half of my teaching career, I held this experience in common with my undergraduate students. We all went through it. We all remembered it. We all felt it. Over the last 15 years, however, each new crop of students has yielded less memory of that day. Today, none of my students have any memory at all because they were all born after September 11, 2001. The 9/11 attacks are to them like the JFK assassination was to me when I was their age—a remote national calamity that my parents experienced but that I could hardly fathom. Every passing year is like a wave washing away the sands of our national memory.

And I think this is the part that bothers me the most. We have forgotten something that never should have slipped away from us. A proud nation that fancied itself as an impregnable fortress got humbled on that day. We found out that the homeland is not invulnerable. And we looked death in the face. For a moment, every person in America put aside the soul-crushing amusements that we normally busy ourselves with. There was a moment when America actually hit the pause button on its incessant celebrity worship.

Churches across the country filled up and overflowed on September 16, the Sunday after the attacks. There was a palpable national feeling that we needed to hear something weighty and true to make sense of it all. And millions of Americans who never go to church went to church that day. And yet as a nation, we seem to have forgotten all this. What should have changed our national life didn’t—at least not permanently. As the horror faded, so also did our resolve to deal seriously with sin, righteousness, and judgment. The nation got back to its idolatries soon enough. Lord, have mercy on us.

My wife and I went to hear Tom Schreiner preach on September 16, 2001, the first Sunday after 9/11. His text was Luke 13:

“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” –Luke 13:4-5

Could there be a more appropriate text for that day? I doubt it. Here we have a tower falling on and killing eighteen people. What is the lesson from the falling tower? We are no better than the people that perished in those towers. Indeed, if we fail to repent, we can expect an even worse judgment than those upon whom the tower of Siloam fell.

The message of the moment for everyone was this. Look death in the face, and contemplate what this means for your own life. Your life is short. It may end sooner than you think. Repent and turn to Christ as your only hope in this life and the next. Our nation didn’t do that, and we are the worse for it.

John Piper’s September 16 sermon is one that has proven to be prophetic (audio, transcript), especially the series of questions he asks near the beginning. He calls God’s people to turn away from their implicit trust in American military might and national prosperity. Americans by and large had taken for granted their own security in the world. Piper said 9-11 proves what the Bible already teaches—that such security is an illusory fiction. Our hope is not in the military and its ability to protect from all danger. Our hope is in Christ, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39).

As I remember the tragedy of 9-11 this week, I also remember these messages from Schreiner and Piper. I am thankful for the reminder that we serve a God who is sovereign over all things, that we serve a Christ who once looked into the cold eyes of at a heartless Roman governor and said, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” I am thankful that while we have no basis for confidence in military might (Psalm 20:7), we have every reason to be confident in King Jesus who has promised to come again and to make all things new (Revelation 21:5). I am thankful for a Christ who loves sinners and who will one day banish evil from the new heavens and the new earth and wipe ever tear away.

That is our hope. Would to God that our nation might be gripped by this truth. It is our only hope in this life and the next.

You can watch the video below.

This kind of inane analysis is all over the place right now, including on the ESPN program “First Take” this morning (see video below). After watching “First Take,” I can hardly believe how much people are blinded by Kiffin Derangement Syndrome. Yes, Lane Kiffin has earned his bad reputation. I get it. But at some point you have to get past that and look at the facts–which too many fans and commentators are steadfastly refusing to do. Here are the facts.

The NCAA wronged a bunch of college athletes by making them think they had to leave their college programs when they really didn’t have to leave after all. And now after granting another year of eligibility to their class, they won’t let them come back for their final year. That’s unconscionable.

This is not about whether NFL players should play in college football. Nobody thinks they should. This is an exceptional case. It is about righting a wrong that the NCAA foisted upon these players. The players are right to sue for their fifth year of eligibility.

Also, this is not an LSU-only issue. Cole Hutson is a Texas Longhorns offensive lineman. He participated in two NFL minicamps in the offseason–one with the Dallas Cowboys and another with the Cleveland Browns. Neither of those teams wanted him, so Hutson sued the NCAA in Texas and got his fifth year back. He is playing with the Texas Longhorns right now.

Mark Mitchell finished four seasons playing basketball for Missouri. He went through the 2026 NBA Draft process and played in NBA Summer League with the Denver Nuggets. He didn’t make the team and then sued to get his fifth year of eligibility in college. He won and eventually made his way back to Missouri where he is now a part of that team.

We could go on and on with stories like this. The lawsuits are happening all over the country, and they are being brought by players from the class of 2022 that are looking to get their fifth year of eligibility. The lawsuits are not being brought by universities but by PLAYERS. And some courts are giving them permission to play.

Schools across the country are choosing to recruit and play these athletes if they are ruled eligible by the courts. It’s no different than when Trinidad Chambliss sued for an extra year of eligibility and won his court case. Chambliss is Ole Miss’s quarterback (in defiance of the NCAA’s ruling) because a court said he could play.

I’m not asking folks to fall in love with Lane Kiffin. I’m not asking anyone to trust Kiffin or to like LSU. Feel free to hate them with the irrational hatred that only a fan can have.

I am asking for you to consider the merits of the case that these student athletes are making in the courts. The vast majority of them have no connections to LSU, and many of them would never have left their university in the first place if they’d known they had a fifth year of eligibility. They only left because the NCAA failed to tell them in time that they had another year to play.

This is not opening the flood gates to pro players coming into college sports. It applies to one narrow group of the 2022 signing-class who have another year of eligibility left. It’s a one-off and won’t happen again after this year. This is not setting a precedent but is based on a very specific set of non-repeatable circumstances.

You wouldn’t know any of this from the inane analysis by talking heads like what is on display in the video below. Stephen A. and Paul Finebaum are being irrational. Their analysis is that Lane Kiffin is evil and is trying to open up the NFL for college recruiting. That is such a distortion of what is actually going on.

But good luck explaining that to anyone. They are too busy with Kiffin Derangement Syndrome to rationally consider the merits of the case these athletes are making. But that doesn’t have to be you. Know the facts, and make a judgement based on the merits of the case.