So, we get to relive the events of 9/11/01 all over again. I watched a 9/11 special (“Inside the Twin Towers”) on Discovery Channel last night, and I was surprised at how emotional I got about it. I thought the feelings I had that day would have faded and dulled by now, especially after all the seemingly never-ending coverage that went on five years ago. I fully expected to be pretty calloused after all this time had passed. And yet the sadness and, yes, fear that I had felt that Tuesday morning came rushing back as survivors related their stories — wondering what was going to happen next, how many more planes were hijacked, where the next one was going to hit; and the shock and horror of seeing the buildings collapse, knowing they were filled with people and we were watching them all die on national television.

For some reason, I get the most emotional when I think of my daughter, who was only one year old and our only child at that point in 2001. I remember distinctly saying to my wife how glad I was that she was too young to know what was going on; to her, in her innocence and unawareness, that day was like any other, and someday this attack will be to her just another historical event she learns about in school — important, but not carrying the emotional gravity of having watched it unfold. I’m glad she was spared those feelings.

September 11 is, among other things, a time to remember how much we love our families and how much our friends mean to us. Every person who died that day had parents, spouses, children, friends, other loved ones, that they fully expected to see again. It’s easy to take these relationships for granted when we’re busy — and we are all busy people. But when the planes hit, all of those people picked up their phones and tried to contact the people they loved the most to tell them how much they loved them, and in many cases, to say goodbye. It reminds me that, terrorists or no terrorists, we never really know when our last day on earth is going to be, and that sobering thought should give us pause to reflect on what’s really most important.

For me, what’s really most important is the faith I have in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the love I have for my family. And that’s what I’ll be thinking about tomorrow as we all reflect on the events of September 11, 2001.