“Jesus help me, I don't think we're going to get out of this thing. I'm going to have to go out on faith."
It was the voice of Todd Beamer, the passenger who said, "Let's roll" as he led the charge against the terrorists who had hijacked United Flight 93, the one that crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside (instead of its apparent White House target). The whole world knows how brave Beamer and his fellow passengers were on September 11. But recently we learned what buttressed that bravery… Faith in Jesus Christ.
Todd died as he lived, a faithful believer. In an article titled "The Real Story of Flight 93", Newsweek magazine reveals gripping new details from the actual transcripts of the now-recovered cockpit voice recorder. Todd had been afraid, Newsweek relates. More than once, he cried out for his Savior.
After passengers were herded to the back of the jet, Beamer used his cell phone to call the GTE Customer Center. He told supervisor Lisa Jefferson about the hijacking. The passengers were planning to jump the terrorists, he said. And then he asked her to pray with him.
Newsweek relates, "Beamer kept a Lord's Prayer bookmark in his Tom Clancy novel, but he didn't need any prompting. He began to recite the ancient litany, and Jefferson joined him: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." When they finished, Beamer added, "Jesus, help me."
And then, Beamer and his fellow passengers prayed a prayer that has comforted millions down through the centuries-- the same prayer that David wrote in a time of great anguish: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” And then, the famous last words: "Are you guys ready? Let's roll."
As Christians, we know that God can bring good out of evil. In Todd Beamer, the world witnesses a faith that held up in the extremity of fear. What is the source of this amazing faith? I begin to understand what the Bible means when it says, “When I am weak, I am strong.” When each of us faces our own hour of adversity, we too can rise to supernatural heights, well above our circumstances, if we also realize as Todd Beamer that we, “Can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13
It is a faith that even now is comforting his widow and two young sons.
