Remembering 9/11

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Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Where were you on September 11th, 2001? I'm Stu Epperson and in this special podcast today we're remembering 9-11. I was honored to sit down with a good friend and mentor who will tell you some pretty intense things. Why this is a rough day for him and a lot of people. Please be praying for all these families of all these victims and let's remember our awesome heroes who stood strong and tall in one of the darkest days in American history. Here's my visit with my good friend and mentor Chris Berry in his living room as he talks about 9-11 20 years ago today. September 11th, 2001 is a day that changed America and this is the anniversary the 20-year anniversary of that day that tragedy and I'm with one of my mentors who is deeply connected to that day and I never bug him on that day so we're pre-recording this but his name's Chris Perry he's been on my live show I've heard him speak and articulate his testimony and his connection and friends it's deep it's intense I just want to warn you it's it's extremely emotional but I'm grateful for him being willing to come on this show Truth Talk with Stu Epperson to at least help us think through the dynamics and what happened that day we don't want to forget there's there's kids being raised now that aren't hearing about this there's people that are even denying it they're trying to get it out of the history books and so Chris Perry take yourself back 20 years there you were you're a New York guy you're a Wall Street guy you are North Carolina transplant thank God you're here you might not would be here if you had answered the summons to go to some kind of breakfast in one of the World Trade Center restaurants but thank you for sharing your story how do you frame this whole thing it's all on tv and everywhere uh well thanks Stu it's so fun to be with you and um and I know how how uh you care about the moment and you and and you've you've you've been a great uh comfort to me because I know you understand how powerful that was and you know so many people who by the way were much more effective than I was I mean I did not lose a family member and you know I didn't you know my children were never in danger my brother and I were together after we got out took us a long while to get home but we got home and um so you know it's not my story but I just have a I came from a town that lost 16 people I came from a church that lost uh one of its uh you know sort of foundational members um I you know my kids schools had folks who who parents who were involved and and were killed uh and you know the clubs I was affiliated with so people I knew around town um so uh it was all around and and it was pervasive and um you know I the town that I lived in Summit, New Jersey was you know managed to make it also onto the national stage because uh 60 Minutes focused on one resident of Summit who was whose remains were not found for a very long time and uh so we had Ed Bradley at our church and you know we had the whole 60 Minutes thing going on and and so you know you felt like you were part of a national conversation um and you felt like you were a part of a personal tragedy at the same time and um other towns were harder hit uh you know towns like Manhasset and Ridgewood lost more so our town wasn't the worst hit town but it was uh you know the deep sadness of some of the little things that you came to notice um you know one of the things that one of the symbols of our town that was so sad was that you know that next day you know no one went back to work that next day you couldn't get to work really um all the tunnels and bridges were closed matter of fact the Holland tunnel was closed for one year because they needed to pull out the materials of the damaged building and they needed to get emergency trucks because it was closed for one entire year which made getting to work you know not pleasant in lower Manhattan anyway from New Jersey but um I digress the once one symbol was the cars that were left in the commuter train station that were there day after day the same car week after week and it was almost months before some of them got moved because just no one wanted to be part of it you know I'm sure some people didn't know where the keys were some people thought I know I don't want to see that car again or who who knows um you know we um we had a very young pastor at our church who's now become a very very important pastor he's the uh Rich Conwych he's the pastor at Peachtree Pres now but he was the brand new 29 year old pastor of our church First Presbyterian Summit and um he tells the story of um this one victim uh who was murdered that day um and going into the his house and he apparently looked a little bit with a silhouette like his like her husband and um and the wife thinking that he's come home you know he's he's found his way home and giving him and then realizing it wasn't him and this the just the hope maybe this will come maybe this will maybe this will be okay maybe they'll come home maybe they'll you know they've got amnesia maybe they're in a hospital you know all that stuff so that was you know that was uh all so sad my children my sons went to a camp Camp Dudley up on um Lake Champlain Camp Dudley is uh oldest camp in America it's a Christian camp its motto is the other fella first and uh it's been operating continuously since 18 something or other any son of a lost parent was able to go to that camp without charge as many years as as well as was you know as needed or wanted and so uh you know that's the next summer you saw all the sons of all the men that you not all but many of the men you know you saw them all up there so everywhere you went it was widows whose husbands hadn't come home it was young men and young women whose dads had to come home so you know there's just that was just great sadness the you know the great geopolitical implications i mean we all know we just you know we were in a war in Afghanistan for 20 years we we were obviously at war with Iraq and we have um this but let's put it this way we've spent an awful lot of money on technology and people and uh that make that makes war and um i'm not sure that uh i'm not sure how much we've benefited from it i mean i but um war is war is terrible anyway yeah well so chris perry you were working on wall street a lot of us watch these 9 11 shows memorials documentaries we see planes flying in the building so yeah we knew that was you know it's like it's almost like we knew it was going to happen it's almost like you read the bible and they had no idea about this stuff that was going to happen well we we hindsight's 2020 but i i there were people working there were people going to work every day there were people invited to you were invited to an event there at the trade center and i do remember you sharing about a phone call with someone in there you had friends in there with you were talking with a buddy while all this was going on he and he didn't know what was happening and maybe you didn't know what was going on right and um of course confusion was unbearable and and uh i happened to get a guy on a phone on the phone who i knew worked up at uh canner and talked to him for a minute and you know they were very concerned but they were going to evacuate and they thought they could get out and and then you know then the phone eventually died because all the phones went out eventually so um you know you you didn't know and of course i never saw him again i never heard from again because he everyone on the canner floor um perished that day anybody who's anybody who's above the plane strike um couldn't get out and didn't get out um the the breakfast i was supposed to be at uh which was at the windows of the world which is obviously the top of the north tower and uh you know nobody came home from that breakfast uh and any and there were you know at that breakfast you know a dozen people i knew well and you know 50 people i knew as acquaintances so it was uh it was uh it was it was uh and by the way all the cooks died you know and all the servers died it wasn't just you know wall street guys it was it was everyday men and women who um who were uh who were killed and one of the one of the guys who was at that breakfast um he's i tell his story because he was a uh a big guy great guy he was an athlete he had used to play for the new york football giants briefly and um he's a tennis player and um i i knew him because he used to have a a party where you know right around that time of year in new york the u.s opens in town matter of fact they're playing it now and the u.s open uh uh would attract always have an an old-timers tournament and he would get guys like stan smith and ken roswald to come play at his club and have a party so his you know his friends could play tennis with him and you know talk to him hear the old stories and and um you know he's just a big man and he was he was at that breakfast and um his uh family had always called him superman because he was uh just still a big guy great athlete and he could you know he could do anything and uh uh had that personality and and people were very attracted to him and um i like to think that he flew that day wow chris perry a wall street guy who has gone on to be not only my mentor but started some really cool ministries and been a part of ministries i want i want to come back and do a quick segment and just tell us how we can frame this how we can pray for all the still families are hurting families daddy didn't come home families that are missing you know people that still haven't recovered the the bodies when we come back remembering 9 11 on truth talk i'm stu epperson hang on where were you on 9 11 september 11 2001 a day that shook america i believe the most bloody attack on american soil you know we have uh pearl harbor the day that will be remembered in infamy going back 80 years or so but in 2001 war struck and it struck by the in the form of airplanes in the two world trade centers and in the pentagon and pennsylvania an attack that was averted by some very brave people who you're familiar with we don't want to forget them and that famous statement by that was he a judo wrestler guy who said let's go remember that's role let's roll yeah whole book and you know you've shared about his his widow who's written a great book and she's been all over tv but that guy was a hero i believe dude well there are so many heroes out of that day and uh so much redemption uh there's a wonderful book called the red bandana he was a boston college young man who um kept going back up and getting more people down the stairs who were you know and uh he was doing it just because of who he was and um that's some that's an incredibly redemptive story uh there's a play on broadway that's actually showing over the streaming networks called come from away it was a broadway play that toured around the country virginia i virginia and i saw it then we had it was denver and my kids who live in denver with the group of the grandkids there we had to go see it we babysat for them come from away as a story of 500 people whose planes were grounded in newfoundland at an old way station that used to be used as a stopping point on the when flights couldn't go as far as england would they would go to newfoundland and greenland and they'd go on to england and uh this air force the base was pretty big but the town is pretty small and uh if you get a chance to see come from away one of the things that that happened there is that the townspeople opened up their lives and their homes and their schools and any venue they could and they they they fed and clothed and cared for these people who by the way had no communication beyond no place to live and no place to sleep and no nothing to eat no communication and by the way all the dogs that were in the hold apparently are these planes too it's another part of the story but uh several of the people on the plane uh were very successful uh wall streeters and no one from that town will ever pay for their college again wow wow so just one of the the hero stories a lot came out these firefighters these heroes there's guys i was watching facebook where a firefighter had his full regalia on his full uniform helmet everything and he was doing stair steppers in the gym to commemorate his colleagues who perished in those buildings who went up those stairs with full regalia with axes and tanks of oxygen and and they're they're all their equipment uh chris perry how do you if as you look at it as you think about it and as you talk to a whole nother generation maybe who isn't as familiar with 911 they didn't live through it you know my kids were were young and tiny you know i think my oldest daughter has some memories some memories you know but watching it on the television hearing about it i was at the christian radio state i was at the truth network when it was all i was there just after it all happened but watching the replay still wondering what the world's going on our country's been attacked is there more attacks coming is is you know is my home gonna blow up but can you help us frame this like what what would you say everyone out there about the importance of of prayer the importance of your your faith in the lord just to get you through i mean this is a difficult time of year for you because you were connected with people and so many folks this is a hard time of year yeah it is a hard time of year and and i do get pretty reflective and kind of quiet and i can just say stew that i wish there was no evil in the world and uh i certainly think war is awful and it has consequences that reverberate down generations and this was an evil act that perpetuated a uh you know a painful and very costly war so you know we're not in america we've been blessed we had two c's we were you know we've even when hawaii was attacked and it wasn't even it wasn't a state it was it was a territory so uh this was a very shocking thing for our country but it's not it's in the bible i mean not this attack but that men covet each you know covet they want what the other men have and that people will fight wars and create a great deal of death and destruction to pursue their own gains what is what does jesus say about that i mean you know i believe that he was described as the prince of peace and you know jesus was not someone who started a war or advocated for war um he was um he was a lover of men yeah amen so um and women so i i i just you know that evil things happened to this country on our soil to people who were you know community leaders you know it was mostly men who died it was men in the prime of their lives men who had wives and brothers and uncles and parents and children and you know were boy scout leaders and church elders and they were at the prime of their lives they were taken away from all those things so it hurts it hurts horribly uh how do you possibly manage a world that could be that evil how do you how do you you know how do you get up in the morning knowing there's that kind of evil out there well you know if you don't have a faith um you're gonna have a crisis yeah that's right wow no christ big crisis and without the lord and you know i can see the gospel working in your life a lot of gospel opportunities connected to 9 11 a lot of opportunities to pray for people to show love a lot of christians step their game up have ministered to widows administered to kids helping them with going to camp at camp dudley and other things chris berry a wall street guy you ended up coming not too long after that coming to north carolina you became my mentor i mean i see a lot of neat fruit from that god kept you alive you could have been at that breakfast you were invited to it you declined and you know at the world trade center when is the world restaurant you're back in north carolina here you helped uh you and some guys right there on your patio we're in your home right now on your patio there out there you you and some guys started the new cana society chapter a great men's group in winston salem and then you're involved in radical mentoring tell us give us bring our listeners up to speed of what god's doing with that real quick and we're going to wrap this segment up on our remembering 9 11 but one of the people close to that and what god's doing now in your life with the radical mentoring these other things well stu um the call is um oswald chambers has a wonderful september 11th if you're a follower of oswald chambers my utmost for his highest on september 11th he it's it's the call to serve wow yeah it's the call to serve and you know coming down here gave me a lot more time and uh it i'd you know i was able to i was able to be self-employed and uh that extra time uh i was fairly committed and and i think i've been true to this to uh um you know making me making more of my time for uh the kingdom amen amen well thank you for the time you've invested in me it's it's an honor to interview you in in just the words of encouragement i always pray for you extra during this time of year because of how hard you the people you lost and the friends you lost in 9 11 so many people hurting so many people so many casualties but look for gospel opportunities and look for to to trust the lord through these difficult times and it's getting worse you know out there but god is good and god still got us here because his son's going to return to take us home but in the meantime we've got a lot of souls to reach right brother chris he came uh to serve not to be served amen god bless you and this podcast we'll put it out there too so be sure you download and share it and remember 9 11 tell the stories tell the stories of the heroes tell the stories of the lost tell the stories of the truth about all this to your kids and your grandkids don't let their memory be lost on this important day in american history this tragic day in american history this is the truth network