09/11/2023
Please read...
Heart breaking... at the same time proud that we have people willing to take a stand against evil.
“Hello … Operator … listen to me … I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. We have a situation here…
Our plane has been hijacked … can you understand me?”
On September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer – a father of two young boys and a little girl on the way – was on United Flight 93, a non-stop flight from Newark, NJ to San Francisco, CA.
As an account manager for the Oracle Corporation, it was just another business trip that turned out to be anything but.
That day, Flight 93 had been hijacked as part of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
While in the air, Todd managed to grab an air phone and made contact with Lisa Jefferson, a telephone supervisor with GTE (now Verizon Communications).
“There was a gentleman on the line, very soft spoken, calm,” Lisa said.
The call continued…
Lisa: Can you tell me how many hijackers are on the plane?
Todd: There are three that we know of.
Lisa: Now Todd, can you try to tell me exactly what happened?
Todd: Two of the hijackers were sitting in first class near the cockpit. A third one was sitting near the back of the coach section. The two up front got into the cockpit somehow … there was shouting. The third hijacker said he had a bomb. It looks like a bomb. He’s got it tied to his waist with a red belt of some kind.
And then, moments later…
Lisa: Todd….are you ok? Tell me what’s happening!
Todd: Hello … We’re going down … I think we’re going to crash … Wait – wait a minute. No, we’re leveling off … we’re ok. I think we may be turning around … That’s it – we changed directions. Do you hear me … we’re flying east again.
What Todd and the other passengers didn’t know was that the plane was indeed heading east … towards the nation’s capital!
Todd: (breathing a little heavier) The plane seems to be changing directions just a little. It’s getting pretty rough up here. The plane is flying real erratic … We’re not going to make it out of here. Listen to me … I want you to hear this … I have talked with the others … we have decided we would not be pawns in these hijackers’ suicidal plot.
Lisa: Todd, what are you going to do?
Todd: We’ll get them … and we’ll take them out. Lisa, will you do one last thing for me?
Lisa: Yes … What is it?
Todd: Would you pray with me?
After they had prayed together, Lisa remembers the final words of the conversation:
“He turned from me to speak to someone else. And he said, ‘Are you ready?’ I couldn’t hear the response. Then he said:
‘Okay, let’s roll.’
This is the last I heard from Todd Beamer.”
That plane … and all the people in it … crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania…
…instead of into our nation’s capital.
No one knows exactly what happened after Todd Beamer said “let’s roll”.
But I think it can be accurately described with one word:
Heroism.
I have no doubt that Todd Beamer and the other passengers on United Flight 93 didn’t wake up that morning thinking they were going to be heroes.
But God had a very special role for them to play that day.
It’s a role any of us may be asked to take on when we least expect it.
And it involves courage in the face of fear.
Let Todd’s sacrifice be a reminder to us all that if the time ever comes…
…we must be prepared to do what’s right to protect our loved ones and those who are counting on us most.
As you think about what happened on this day 22 years ago, remember those words “let’s roll.”
Few, if any of us, will ever be in a situation like Todd Beamer’s and the rest of the passengers on that plane.
But we can honor them in this way:
If you ever find the safety of yourself, your loved ones, or your neighbors at risk…
…be ready and willing to say to yourself, “Let’s roll.”
