The time has come for all Christians to join President Bush's "Infinite Justice" CRUSADE!
Posted on 09/22/2001 10:48:52 AM PDT by xzins
Active Christian on Flight 93 Hailed as a Hero
Wheaton College graduate (TODD BEEMER) and others "figured out how to do extraordinary things" aboard United plane.
Todd Beamer will always be remembered as a national hero. But members of Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro, New Jersey, say they thought of the 32-year-old father of two as a hero long before he and others on United Flight 93 confronted hijackers on the Boeing 757 on September 11.
The flight was the only one that did not hit a target. Instead, it crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Vice President Dick Cheney said Beamer and the others kept the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history from having an even greater impact in the nation's capital.
"What they did was to foil, I think, the attack on Washington," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. "Without question, the attack would've been much worse if it hadn't been for the courageous actions of those individuals on United 93."
On board Beamer called a GTE Airfone operator about the hijacking, recited the Lord's Prayer, and said, "Let's roll." Beamer and the others, investigators believe, then somehow interfered with the terrorists' plans and kept the jet from hitting a target presumed to be in Washington.
"To the world they were ordinary [but] they figured out how to do extraordinary things…. to overcome the worst adversity I could ever imagine," Beamer's wife, Lisa, told Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America. Lisa Beamer, also 32, is expecting the couple's third child in January. Lisa Beamer says faith and family were always her husband's priorities.
The Beamers, who met as students at Wheaton College in Illinois, have been members of Princeton Alliance for about six years, says John Edgar Caterson, senior associate pastor. They both have been youth sponsors, Todd Beamer taught a high school Sunday school class, and Lisa Beamer is on the church's governing board.
Caterson, a member of a tight-knit small group that included the Beamers, says Todd Beamer was one of his best friends.
"He's one of the few people that I just look up to," Caterson says. "Both of them are rock steady in the faith and grounded in the Word."
Caterson says Beamer spoke constantly of his family, and encouraged him to take special care of his own. Beamer introduced Caterson to his wife and helped organize and fund the limousine and hotel stay for the couple's honeymoon.
Caterson and another minister had recently preached a series of sermons on each line of the Lord's Prayer. They were comforted that their friend said the prayer as he faced his final moments.
While enjoying success as a sales account manager at Oracle Corporation, Beamer scheduled his business trips so he could be home on Sundays. "He was a Promise Keeper before there were Promise Keepers," Caterson says. "His heart's calling was 'First to my God, then to my family.'"
Brian Mumau, another member of the Beamers' small group, recalled that Beamer carried two cell phones and was always talking to people, catching up with them and remembering their prayer requests. Beamer, a 1991 graduate of Wheaton, left a message of encouragement on Mumau's answering machine from the airport just before he boarded Flight 93.
Caterson and Mumau both cited Beamer's quick mind and ability to absorb information and summarize it rapidly.
This summer, Becky Langone watched the Beamer children—David, 3, and Andrew 1—for several hours a week so Lisa could run errands. Langone says Todd would make an effort to spend time with the boys during the day.
"A lot of days, he'd come in when we'd be eating lunch, just to see the boys," she says. Langone, a freshman at Middlesex City College, said the most difficult moments for her come when she remembers a smiling "Drewbie" peeking around the door of his father's home office, or the joy on David's face when he and his dad played baseball.
"David totally looked up to his dad," Langone says.
Students from Beamer's Sunday school class and youth group say he also made them a priority.
Jimmy Leonard, a sophomore at Princeton who has known Beamer since high school, says he'll always remember the way Beamer took a personal interest in him. Leonard says Beamer was an example of someone who was true to his faith.
"I have a younger brother in high school now, and he's still kind of starting to think through his beliefs—and he was a little skeptical about Christianity because he saw people who said one thing Sunday but would live differently the rest of the time," Leonard says. "Todd was the only person [he saw] who said something and then lived it. That really stuck with my brother and me."
Leonard Harris, a junior at Rider University in New Jersey, learned the words to Ray Boltz's song "Thank You For Giving To the Lord" in two days so he could sing it at Beamer's memorial service Sunday. Harris says that more than 1,000 people attended the service. About 1,750 people attend the church each Sunday.
Friends say they weren't surprised by Beamer's actions in an emergency. Harris says knowing Beamer was a hero will make it easier to deal with grief.
"We are just so proud of him," Harris says, his voice breaking. "I think that's what's helping Lisa—not just leaning on God, but knowing that Todd never just sat back. It gives me the idea that this isn't as bad as it seems, because Todd was obviously meant to be on that plane."
Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christianity Today magazine. Click here for reprint information on Christianity Today.
Right now my 14 year old son has to read a book about Mohammed Ali in his English class. I want a book about Beamer to replace it in the schools.
Valerie, Mohammed Ali was never a hater, and he touched the hearts of millions of people, including this wasp. A book about Todd Beamer would compliment the Ali book, and in my heart, I believe that "Cassus Clay" of my home state of Kentucky, would be one of the first to read it.
Got sword? (M1 Garand ==>CMP)
No mercy, no quarter!
May the jihadists burn in hell for eternity!
Help speed them on their way!
Molon Labe!
Bible quotes in favor of annihilating jihadists
Poll: bin Laden's skull can be best used as an ....
|
Also, remember to keep praying about two other courageous Americans -- the two women who were in Afghanistan providing humanitarian aid through Shelter Now International. They are now jailed, having been accused of sharing their faith. They and all the accused Christians need our prayers. Even their trial is now delayed. Those trying to help them are facing great difficulties even getting to them. The Taliban previously indicated foreigners would only face jail and expulsion, but they have also indicated these American women could receive the death penalty by hanging. |
||
 |
 |
|
| Heather Mercer Jailed in Afghanistan Accused of Sharing her Faith |
Dayna Curry Jailed in Afghanistan Accused of Sharing her Faith |
|
|
Jailed Baylor grads' attorney trying to see them. Lawyer trying to see Afghan detained aid workers [ Release Our Women! ] Antioch pastor waits in Pakistan for release of women from Afghanistan Waco pastor fears for safety of ex-BU students held in Afghanistan Taliban May Sentence Christians To Death Heather Mercer & Dayna Curry left behind in Afghanistan |
||
LET'S ROLL!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.