Ten years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the stories of those who died and those who survived have lost none of their power to move us.
That truth was self-evident Wednesday night when Indian immigrant turned Christian evangelist Sujo John stood before a near-capacity crowd at Canyon Hills Assembly of God church to recount his own narrow escape from death that day -- and to talk about how his intimate brush with death gave him new life.
"My story starts in Calcutta, India," John said.
He lost his sister to leukemia at a young age, and though he was raised in a Christian home, that profound loss caused him to doubt God's presence in his life, he said.
That would later change, but he remained unsettled, plagued by a feeling that there had to be more.
John and his wife, Mary, had moved as newlyweds to the United States in February 2001. They had both found jobs in New York.
John worked on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center's north tower. His wife worked on the 71st floor of Tower 2, the south tower. She was four months pregnant with their first child.
Little did they know that the morning routine that day would be shattered by the unthinkable, a terrorist plot to bring down the tallest buildings in Manhattan and at least two other buildings in the nation's capital.
At about 8:45 a.m. Eastern time, John was returning to his desk when he heard -- and felt -- a massive explosion. The building shook. Co-workers began screaming.
American Airlines Flight 11 had just crashed into the floors above.
"Part of the wing tears into our floor," he told the crowd. A "crater" is created in the floor.
"I can actually see 10 floors below us," he said.
Metal and flames rain down from above.
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SOURCE: Bakersfield
