Father, as we reflected on our own tragedy of the bombing of the Murrah Building five years earlier here in Oklahoma City, it was very easy for us to immediately grasp what the New York City people were going through when the towers fell in Manhattan, and we cared about them. And we still do. Many volunteers from New York—and across the United States, for that matter—raced to help us during our time of need, and our response to Sept.11, 2001 was simply because they had loved us so much and showed us compassion of love and peace during our own storm.

We wanted to return that same love to the people in New York, and it was an honor to get to do that. We saw it as a privilege. It allowed us to walk by their side, put an arm around New York City and love on it a little bit. I’m so thankful that God let us do that.

With that in mind as the 25th Anniversary of the attacks approaches, I would like to pray for the residents of New York City.

Father, we come to you in the name of our Lord Jesus. The people of New York City, a great number of them—even these many years later—are going to have reflections of that horrendous tragedy come back to them in very intense ways. They are going to think about family members and friends that they lost during that time.

And so, I pray during this anniversary—which will be a time of reflection—that all of us will be reminded of how life can be taken in just a moment; how evil can rise and do such terrible things. But I also hope in our reflection that overriding all of that will be a remembrance of those who ran into the middle of the chaos, who selflessly and tirelessly worked in the midst of the pain, the hurt, and their own emotional trauma trying to rescue victims or recover the bodies of those who perished.

They loved and encouraged one another; they reached out to the families crushed by the turn of events. I pray that the reflection will be a remembrance that might overcome the darkness and the pain and suffering. And, Lord, because when You came in the Person of our Lord Jesus, Who died on a cross for our sins, and gave us the hope of eternal life in Your resurrection, I pray that people will look to the better day, look through the darkness of the days that’s surrounded the tragedy, and know that there is hope for eternity in Christ.

I pray you will bless the people of New York City as they reflect and remember. Thank you, Father, for the 9-11 Memorial and Museum that is a testimony of the love that was poured out on New York City amid the most heinous and evil thing that was ever done.

But love overcame. I pray that there’s a reflection of that in the memory of those days. And I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.