September 11, 2026: Change

Change. Sometimes challenging. Often exciting. A change in job, location, friends, school, circumstance. 9/11, this day 25 years ago, was a day of change.

9/11 is an example of an event that has a dramatic impact, an event for which you remember the details – where you were, what you were doing, who you were with. I had just woken up, groggy from a late-night arrival back home from a vacation in Mexico. I turned on the TV, saw smoke from the World Trade Center, was sure it was a movie. Whew, so glad I wasn’t still in Mexico!

A similar event for me was the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. January 28, 1986. I was on a school bus heading home from school, when we heard it on the radio. Silence. I even remember where the bus was.

Maybe you remember the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you remember where you were when it was first announced that school was canceled? (perhaps we didn’t realize how long it would be at the time)

We don’t want too many of these dramatic events. They change the world – in difficult ways. Yesterday was Change Day here at Andrews.  We changed our world yesterday, if only in some small way. Some of us went to nature preserves, some to nursing homes, some to nearby communities, schools, parks, even cemeteries. Something I noticed in my visit to a nature preserve, and in other change-inducing events, is that life is resilient! You can bulldoze life, tear up the trees, turn off the water, but it will re-emerge if you give it time and space, and maybe a little help along the way.

I don’t know your background, where you’ve been, where you are going. But I do hope that your time here at Andrews will give you the time and space (and incentive) to grow, in a variety of ways. This coming week will provide some of those times and spaces:

1. If you are an Honors student, be sure join the Fall Honors Agape Feast this evening, 6pm, at the HPAC.
2. Next week is Fall Week of Prayer. Be sure to come for some inspiration to daily meetings at 11:30 am and 7:30 pm in Pioneer Memorial Church. This also means that the MWF class schedule changes next week. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 8:30 classes start at 8:10, 9:30 classes start at 9:00, 10:30 classes start at 9:50, 11:30 classes start at 10:40
3. Some of you will see a few additional people around on Thursday evening through Sunday morning. SciFest is a yearly program that brings teams of students from academies and high schools to participate in science activities. We look forward to meeting new people and learning new things.

Blessings to you as you develop resilience in the face of change.

But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you." Isaiah 43:1-2