story3418.xml
Title
story3418.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
?Our 9-11 Baby Born?
In the wee hours of the beginning of Sept 11, 2001 my daughter was born. I should have known this would be an eventful day, being the date 9-11. Little Asia Marie was born weighing 9.1 lbs on this, year 1, of the new millennium. 911 seemed to be making its appearance early as my wife screamed ?Bryan!? for the last time, and launched forth the newest member of our family. It wasn?t until after I had gone home to get a few hours sleep that I awoke to the horrendous news of our nation?s 911 emergency situation back east. Our friend, Mary, was frantic on the phone, and I had no idea what she was saying until afterward, when I finally turned on the TV and watched for myself. What an indescribable event! I was filled with such mixed emotions. For me, this was a day of polar opposites: good and evil, life and death, joy and grief.
Before returning to the hospital I stopped at the local florist and the man behind the counter enlightened me as to the coincidental connection between the calendar, the crisis, and the emergency code. Thoughts returned to my new little 9-11 ?baby-doll,? ?sweetie-pie,? or ?punkin?-head? (whichever term-of-endearment happens to eventually stick to papa?s perfect princess). What kind of world had she just been born into?! I joked with the man about what kind of girl this would be with such an ominous birth date.
Earlier that morning our good friend, Janene, had mused over what other significant event in history I would find to attach to this auspicious family blessing. I?m known for doing that (she recalled such at the dedication of her own baby in my previous church). It was not long after the terrible news broke that Janene, herself, came through and countered with something she had discovered to help offset the profound notoriety of the day: Ethiopian New Year!!! Well, it seemed hardly equal in significance to what could now live in infamy as ?Terrorist Tuesday,? but they did both share space on the same calendar day. It got me thinking though, and I took to searching the net. When my daughter grows up, will the 9-11 date of her birth always be associated with the worst tragedy in US history? There must be something redeeming in the date that can be found which would speak to something more positive, and from which she may draw strength as she grows up.
After much time spent clicking www?s, and perusing my many hard volumes, I came to write this piece. I found many movie stars and sports notables that were either born or died on 9-11 in various years. That wouldn?t do, really. Then I found some interesting tidbits that I thought might just be the ticket. While I found it quite chillingly coincidental that our Pentagon was nearly destroyed exactly sixty years (to the day!) after it?s initial ground-breaking ceremony (9-11-1941), I was encouraged that it has not been totaled, and that it would survive to be rebuilt better than before. But 9-11 has more often been a date of victory for us Americans. What has become known as ?The last Battle of the American Revolution? occurred on 9-11-1782, when a handful of patriot militia, with their wives and children, successfully defended Fort Henry against British Rangers and their Indian cohorts.
Exactly thirty-two years later we defeated the Brits again in the Battle of Lake Champlain (9-11-1814). A month earlier the British had burned the Capitol and the White House!!! After our victory, it was only another couple of months before the war ended. It was this same ?War of 1812? that Francis Scott Key was inspired to pen our National Anthem. Speaking of which, it was on 9-11-1916 that ?The Star Spangled Banner? was sung for the first time at a baseball game in, of all places, New York.
We have to admit that our recent tragedy has quite brought us together as a nation of flag-waving, patriotic Americans. Suddenly people are actually paying attention to our Anthem and are even learning the words! All this patriotism is laudable, and my daughter will eventually be apprised of these historic connections to her big day. I want her to be a proud citizen of this, the greatest country in the world, but I desire even more that she be a true citizen of the heavenly Kingdom of God. While Americans are, at least, learning the first stanza of this country?s official hymn, few are familiar with its last stanza:
O, Thus Be It Ever When Freemen Shall Stand,
Between Their Lov'd Homes And The War's Desolation;
Blest With Vict'ry And Peace, May The Heav'n-Rescued Land
Praise The Pow'r That Hath Made And Preserv'd Us As A Nation!
Then Conquer We Must, When Our Cause Is Just,
And This Be Our Motto: "In God Is Our Trust"
And The Star-Spangled Banner In Triumph Shall Wave
O'er The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave!
Nice song about our nation, fine song about our flag, great song about our God!!! It praises God for blessing us with victory and peace, and with making, rescuing, and preserving us as a nation that trusts in Him. You know, there is a lot of talk about God currently, but I fear our country has lost sight of what God it is to which these lyrics refer. What ?god? are we Americans trusting in, if any at all? Are these just words? The Bible teaches that there is only one true God, and that it is this God who came down and took upon Himself the flesh of man. He revealed Himself personally to us in the man Christ Jesus. It was certainly not the moon-god, Allah, nor the New-Age (anything-you-want-to-imagine) god, nor any of the mythical deities of the ancient Greek, Roman, or Hindu pantheons. It is the Savior-God of Biblical Scripture; the Triune God; the Living God; God!
When my daughter matures, and sees the motto ?In God We Trust,? she will read it in light of her own knowledge of Him as we have taught her through Scripture. She will not think it means ?In Any-Old God We Trust,? but in the God of Jesus Christ - the only God that can be trusted in, because there is no other.
Back to Janene?s ?Ethiopian New Year.? It occurs to me now that there is significance for us in acknowledging that particular 9-11 holiday, for it is in the book of Acts, chapter eight, that we read of the traveling Ethiopian who accepts Christ and is ?born-again? spiritually. Asia Marie will be ever reminded of that man?s conversion on her own natural birth date, and I trust she will, one day, be drawn to make that same decision for herself. Another thing about this man, he was a Gentile. He was but the beginning of the flood of Gentile converts into the Church that would soon outnumber the Jewish Christians. This issue was taken up at the Jerusalem counsel, chapter fifteen, where Jesus? brother, James, stood up and declared that this coming together of Jew and Gentile into one faith was, in fact, the long awaited ?restoration of ?Israel?? (ie, David?s fallen tent) as prophesied some 700 years earlier in, guess where?, Amos 9:11. There it is again!
9-11 is also the annual date that many Christians worldwide celebrate the feast of John the Baptist. John was the last of the old-time prophets under the Law, and he ushered in the New Testament covenant of grace by preparing the way for Christ. Jesus affirmed that John was the greatest of men, and a prophet?; ?Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet? (Mat 11:9)! Hmm, this is something else I think I?ll add to Asia?s ?positive stuff? list.
Finally, We named our son ?Christian? for obvious reasons. We named his sister, Asia, for the continent where Christ was born (although Gina still swears it was simply revealed to her in a dream). It was in the chief city of Asia, Antioch, that believer?s in Christ were first called ?Christians? (Acts, chapter eleven). I remember having read somewhere that the meaning of Asia?s name had some relationship to ?fire,? while her middles name, Marie, according to every reference meant ?bitter.? My wife and I paused in astonishment at this unintentional combination, which seemed to correlate to the day?s news item; here we had ?Bitter Fire? coming to us both nationally and natally on 9-11.
A stretch? Perhaps, but we do live in a 911 world, and I believe our daughter?s birth is a symbol of the awful tension between a fallen creation with fallen creatures, and our holy and absolutely perfect Creator. Those spiritually lost men who committed mass-murder/suicide on 9-11 sinned, and greatly so. They sinned against America, against humanity in general, and against God. We are offended and deeply hurt. How dare those foreigners do that to us? Yet, just a couple of nights ago, one of my own countrymen, probably a flag-waving, ?righteous? American, under cover of night, siphoned all the gasoline out of my van. You know how much gas costs nowadays! Certainly this pales in significance to the airline disaster, but it is indicative of the spiritual sinfulness and lost-ness of our own people. All over this land of ours there is daily robbery and rape, adultery and abortion, mayhem and murder; sin abounding by leaps. Even so, our people collect themselves and call upon their ?generic god? to give us comfort, and to defend us against those ?worse? sinners who trespass against us. 9-11 was a disaster for America, but worse yet is the ongoing 911 disastrous emergency of our citizens who continue to refuse the True God of the universe Who has the power to save lost sinners and make them fit for heaven. The Bible teaches that Christ did not come to condemn, but to save; ?Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already? (Joh 3:18). Did you catch that, ?condemned already!? Without God?s intervention we are already in a condemned state. Call 911!!! Actually, the call has been made, and the Great Physician has been sent. Only through Doctor Jesus is the antidote for ?spiritual anthrax? to be received, and it is free to all who ask. Whaddaya say?! Have you ?accepted? your medicine?
It?s a fact that more people in the West have Bible-based names than any other, and Asia Marie is no exception. My daughter?s name does have a very positive, and Biblical flip side to that previously mentioned. Despite the literal meaning of ?Bitter? Marie, the name is really only a French-fried version of that belonging to the most famous of New Testament women, namely, ?Blessed? Mary, the human mother of Christ. And as for the ?fire? connection to Asia, it seems that this is only insofar as it relates to the fire-in-the-sky, the great-ball-O?fire (ie, the sun). ?Asia? actually refers to the direction of the rising sun. Coincidentally (or not), Jesus Christ is referred to in Scripture not only as the ?Son (S-O-N) of God,? but also as ?the Rising Sun (S-U-N)? who comes ?to us from heaven to shine on those in darkness.? Prophetically, the ?Sun of Righteousness? would ?rise with healing? (Mal 4:2), and heal he did, for it is ?by his wounds we are healed? spiritually (Isa 53:5, 1Pe 2:24). Yet, Heaven?s 911 must still be called; ?Everyone (fellow Americans?) who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved? (Rom 10:13). Asia Marie?s name, then, contains the Gospel message: the Savior (Sun of Righteousness), born of the Virgin Mary (Marie), crucified, rises from the dead bringing salvation (rise with healing)! Truly, ?Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children (including daughters) a reward from him? (Psa 127:3).
As I conclude this article (written piecemeal over the past several weeks), I look up and can?t but help notice the calendar. Today it is exactly one month since the two events here written about had occurred. This day, one month ago, was 9-11.
Addendum: this article is now posted exactly one year later. Today?s date: 9-11-02. Happy Birthday, my daughter!
~Pastor Bryan Griem
Community Baptist Church Of East Los Angeles
In the wee hours of the beginning of Sept 11, 2001 my daughter was born. I should have known this would be an eventful day, being the date 9-11. Little Asia Marie was born weighing 9.1 lbs on this, year 1, of the new millennium. 911 seemed to be making its appearance early as my wife screamed ?Bryan!? for the last time, and launched forth the newest member of our family. It wasn?t until after I had gone home to get a few hours sleep that I awoke to the horrendous news of our nation?s 911 emergency situation back east. Our friend, Mary, was frantic on the phone, and I had no idea what she was saying until afterward, when I finally turned on the TV and watched for myself. What an indescribable event! I was filled with such mixed emotions. For me, this was a day of polar opposites: good and evil, life and death, joy and grief.
Before returning to the hospital I stopped at the local florist and the man behind the counter enlightened me as to the coincidental connection between the calendar, the crisis, and the emergency code. Thoughts returned to my new little 9-11 ?baby-doll,? ?sweetie-pie,? or ?punkin?-head? (whichever term-of-endearment happens to eventually stick to papa?s perfect princess). What kind of world had she just been born into?! I joked with the man about what kind of girl this would be with such an ominous birth date.
Earlier that morning our good friend, Janene, had mused over what other significant event in history I would find to attach to this auspicious family blessing. I?m known for doing that (she recalled such at the dedication of her own baby in my previous church). It was not long after the terrible news broke that Janene, herself, came through and countered with something she had discovered to help offset the profound notoriety of the day: Ethiopian New Year!!! Well, it seemed hardly equal in significance to what could now live in infamy as ?Terrorist Tuesday,? but they did both share space on the same calendar day. It got me thinking though, and I took to searching the net. When my daughter grows up, will the 9-11 date of her birth always be associated with the worst tragedy in US history? There must be something redeeming in the date that can be found which would speak to something more positive, and from which she may draw strength as she grows up.
After much time spent clicking www?s, and perusing my many hard volumes, I came to write this piece. I found many movie stars and sports notables that were either born or died on 9-11 in various years. That wouldn?t do, really. Then I found some interesting tidbits that I thought might just be the ticket. While I found it quite chillingly coincidental that our Pentagon was nearly destroyed exactly sixty years (to the day!) after it?s initial ground-breaking ceremony (9-11-1941), I was encouraged that it has not been totaled, and that it would survive to be rebuilt better than before. But 9-11 has more often been a date of victory for us Americans. What has become known as ?The last Battle of the American Revolution? occurred on 9-11-1782, when a handful of patriot militia, with their wives and children, successfully defended Fort Henry against British Rangers and their Indian cohorts.
Exactly thirty-two years later we defeated the Brits again in the Battle of Lake Champlain (9-11-1814). A month earlier the British had burned the Capitol and the White House!!! After our victory, it was only another couple of months before the war ended. It was this same ?War of 1812? that Francis Scott Key was inspired to pen our National Anthem. Speaking of which, it was on 9-11-1916 that ?The Star Spangled Banner? was sung for the first time at a baseball game in, of all places, New York.
We have to admit that our recent tragedy has quite brought us together as a nation of flag-waving, patriotic Americans. Suddenly people are actually paying attention to our Anthem and are even learning the words! All this patriotism is laudable, and my daughter will eventually be apprised of these historic connections to her big day. I want her to be a proud citizen of this, the greatest country in the world, but I desire even more that she be a true citizen of the heavenly Kingdom of God. While Americans are, at least, learning the first stanza of this country?s official hymn, few are familiar with its last stanza:
O, Thus Be It Ever When Freemen Shall Stand,
Between Their Lov'd Homes And The War's Desolation;
Blest With Vict'ry And Peace, May The Heav'n-Rescued Land
Praise The Pow'r That Hath Made And Preserv'd Us As A Nation!
Then Conquer We Must, When Our Cause Is Just,
And This Be Our Motto: "In God Is Our Trust"
And The Star-Spangled Banner In Triumph Shall Wave
O'er The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave!
Nice song about our nation, fine song about our flag, great song about our God!!! It praises God for blessing us with victory and peace, and with making, rescuing, and preserving us as a nation that trusts in Him. You know, there is a lot of talk about God currently, but I fear our country has lost sight of what God it is to which these lyrics refer. What ?god? are we Americans trusting in, if any at all? Are these just words? The Bible teaches that there is only one true God, and that it is this God who came down and took upon Himself the flesh of man. He revealed Himself personally to us in the man Christ Jesus. It was certainly not the moon-god, Allah, nor the New-Age (anything-you-want-to-imagine) god, nor any of the mythical deities of the ancient Greek, Roman, or Hindu pantheons. It is the Savior-God of Biblical Scripture; the Triune God; the Living God; God!
When my daughter matures, and sees the motto ?In God We Trust,? she will read it in light of her own knowledge of Him as we have taught her through Scripture. She will not think it means ?In Any-Old God We Trust,? but in the God of Jesus Christ - the only God that can be trusted in, because there is no other.
Back to Janene?s ?Ethiopian New Year.? It occurs to me now that there is significance for us in acknowledging that particular 9-11 holiday, for it is in the book of Acts, chapter eight, that we read of the traveling Ethiopian who accepts Christ and is ?born-again? spiritually. Asia Marie will be ever reminded of that man?s conversion on her own natural birth date, and I trust she will, one day, be drawn to make that same decision for herself. Another thing about this man, he was a Gentile. He was but the beginning of the flood of Gentile converts into the Church that would soon outnumber the Jewish Christians. This issue was taken up at the Jerusalem counsel, chapter fifteen, where Jesus? brother, James, stood up and declared that this coming together of Jew and Gentile into one faith was, in fact, the long awaited ?restoration of ?Israel?? (ie, David?s fallen tent) as prophesied some 700 years earlier in, guess where?, Amos 9:11. There it is again!
9-11 is also the annual date that many Christians worldwide celebrate the feast of John the Baptist. John was the last of the old-time prophets under the Law, and he ushered in the New Testament covenant of grace by preparing the way for Christ. Jesus affirmed that John was the greatest of men, and a prophet?; ?Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet? (Mat 11:9)! Hmm, this is something else I think I?ll add to Asia?s ?positive stuff? list.
Finally, We named our son ?Christian? for obvious reasons. We named his sister, Asia, for the continent where Christ was born (although Gina still swears it was simply revealed to her in a dream). It was in the chief city of Asia, Antioch, that believer?s in Christ were first called ?Christians? (Acts, chapter eleven). I remember having read somewhere that the meaning of Asia?s name had some relationship to ?fire,? while her middles name, Marie, according to every reference meant ?bitter.? My wife and I paused in astonishment at this unintentional combination, which seemed to correlate to the day?s news item; here we had ?Bitter Fire? coming to us both nationally and natally on 9-11.
A stretch? Perhaps, but we do live in a 911 world, and I believe our daughter?s birth is a symbol of the awful tension between a fallen creation with fallen creatures, and our holy and absolutely perfect Creator. Those spiritually lost men who committed mass-murder/suicide on 9-11 sinned, and greatly so. They sinned against America, against humanity in general, and against God. We are offended and deeply hurt. How dare those foreigners do that to us? Yet, just a couple of nights ago, one of my own countrymen, probably a flag-waving, ?righteous? American, under cover of night, siphoned all the gasoline out of my van. You know how much gas costs nowadays! Certainly this pales in significance to the airline disaster, but it is indicative of the spiritual sinfulness and lost-ness of our own people. All over this land of ours there is daily robbery and rape, adultery and abortion, mayhem and murder; sin abounding by leaps. Even so, our people collect themselves and call upon their ?generic god? to give us comfort, and to defend us against those ?worse? sinners who trespass against us. 9-11 was a disaster for America, but worse yet is the ongoing 911 disastrous emergency of our citizens who continue to refuse the True God of the universe Who has the power to save lost sinners and make them fit for heaven. The Bible teaches that Christ did not come to condemn, but to save; ?Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already? (Joh 3:18). Did you catch that, ?condemned already!? Without God?s intervention we are already in a condemned state. Call 911!!! Actually, the call has been made, and the Great Physician has been sent. Only through Doctor Jesus is the antidote for ?spiritual anthrax? to be received, and it is free to all who ask. Whaddaya say?! Have you ?accepted? your medicine?
It?s a fact that more people in the West have Bible-based names than any other, and Asia Marie is no exception. My daughter?s name does have a very positive, and Biblical flip side to that previously mentioned. Despite the literal meaning of ?Bitter? Marie, the name is really only a French-fried version of that belonging to the most famous of New Testament women, namely, ?Blessed? Mary, the human mother of Christ. And as for the ?fire? connection to Asia, it seems that this is only insofar as it relates to the fire-in-the-sky, the great-ball-O?fire (ie, the sun). ?Asia? actually refers to the direction of the rising sun. Coincidentally (or not), Jesus Christ is referred to in Scripture not only as the ?Son (S-O-N) of God,? but also as ?the Rising Sun (S-U-N)? who comes ?to us from heaven to shine on those in darkness.? Prophetically, the ?Sun of Righteousness? would ?rise with healing? (Mal 4:2), and heal he did, for it is ?by his wounds we are healed? spiritually (Isa 53:5, 1Pe 2:24). Yet, Heaven?s 911 must still be called; ?Everyone (fellow Americans?) who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved? (Rom 10:13). Asia Marie?s name, then, contains the Gospel message: the Savior (Sun of Righteousness), born of the Virgin Mary (Marie), crucified, rises from the dead bringing salvation (rise with healing)! Truly, ?Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children (including daughters) a reward from him? (Psa 127:3).
As I conclude this article (written piecemeal over the past several weeks), I look up and can?t but help notice the calendar. Today it is exactly one month since the two events here written about had occurred. This day, one month ago, was 9-11.
Addendum: this article is now posted exactly one year later. Today?s date: 9-11-02. Happy Birthday, my daughter!
~Pastor Bryan Griem
Community Baptist Church Of East Los Angeles
Collection
Citation
“story3418.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 20, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/10362.