If you’re like me, you know exactly where you were and what you were doing on 9/11, when the jetliners hit the twin towers, flight 93 went down over Shanksville, PA, and the fourth jet crashed into the Pentagon, combined killing over 3,000, in the largest terrorist attack on US soil, in history.

I was sitting in a conference room in Wheeling, WV, with Brian Joseph (no relation), CEO of a manufacturer my company was doing business with. It was incredible and unbelievable seeing it all unfold on TV from Brian’s conference room.9/11 not only changed the country and the world, but millions of individual lives as well.

Why Bad Things Happen

The question is often asked…why do bad things happen? An additional question asked is…why does God allow bad things to happen?

I’m not a Scripture scholar nor a theologian, so my answer has much more to do with my personal experience than the teachings of the Church. That said, my very specific lived experience would indicate that God allows bad things to happen to bring us closer to Him. Without question, minus the personal tragedies I suffered through, I would not be on this faith journey today.

Maybe you’ve experienced “conversion” and like me are on your own faith journey. If so, when good things happen, you thank God in gratitude. If not, it’s likely that you don’t go to God in the good times…you believe you have everything handled on your own. But in bad times, in desperate times, many, many of us go to God, pleading for His help. From what I understand, that’s what happened on 9/11. For weeks afterwards, Churches were full and confession lines very long.

What Bad Things Happened to Me

To know my story is to know that I lost my family as I knew it, I lost my business, and I lost a lot of money. I refer to them as the three 2×4’s that came across the back of my head. Being a control freak and having lost control, I had a“conversion” experience that changed my life forever. Praise God!!!

My wife and I kid around, saying that it would be nice to not have experienced all the things, specifically the tragedies, that we do in our lives. The fact is that it is every single circumstance that makes us who we are, the good and the bad. I thank God for EVERYTHING that’s taken place in my life, including the tragedies, because I know I would not be who I am without each and every one of them.

Attitude of Gratitude

I choose to live in a place of Gratitude, believing that everything happens for a reason, as part of God’s grand plan. There are no accidents, mistakes, or coincidences. We may not know the reason on this side of Heaven, but I’m convinced thatthere’s always a reason for the things that occur in our lives. For me, it was to bring me closer to God.

Although 9/11 was an incredibly tragic event for our country and the world, it’s my suspicion (and experience) that it brought a lot of people closer to God.

Please feel free to comment to me at [email protected].

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Mark Joseph