Pastor Terri Copeland Pearsons Shares Her Experience on 9/11

[Music] everybody in their mid 60s knolder remembers where they were that day president john f kennedy was shot it affected our world it changed our lives it changed the culture it changed our basic trust of one another and we all can remember the moment that we heard and little did we know from that day forward nothing was going to be the same there hasn't been anything so impactful on a nation and on the world like that until september the 11th 2001 and now anybody in their mid-20s and older knows exactly what they were doing the day the towers fell my husband george and i had gone to moscow with a group of about a dozen people and not for just any reason either we went with sister billy brim who was there to teach the russian church their role their nation in the end times gog magog invasion of israel from the north the great judgments that would follow in the tribulation time and it was such a weighty topic she asked us to go and take our prayer leaders with us so we did there were a dozen of us there and we spent a lot of time praying over the church praying over the people praying over sister sister billy brim that she'd have the the courage and the boldness that paul said you know pray i'm bold enough to say what i have to say and she did oh my goodness what a time we had and when that assignment was complete it was time to go home the next day we were in our hotel there which was a massive hotel this hotel was so big it covered an entire moscow city block so the likelihood of bumping into someone was pretty unusual and i was on my way to the lobby by myself going to meet my husband and the rest of our team there and there was sister brim in the hallway well hello i'll walk with you to the lobby i want to say goodbye to all the group great sister brim that'll be wonderful sister brim that was quite a meeting oh i know i know that terry terry through the night i can just tell you something really big is going to happen i don't know what it is i don't know when it's going to happen i don't know what it will be but i really think that it will be sometime within the month sometime really soon all right sister brim well you know what we'll do we'll be praying we'll be watching i'm thinking what does that mean what could that be well we gave our goodbyes and we hugged everybody sister brim was staying on for a few more days for another speaking engagement in another city and so we all went on our way got on the airplane you know and settled in i sat down made my nest i like to nest when we travel that that's a long trip so i got all my things out packed around and we settled in for the long trip home over the atlantic we've been flying for quite some time and as we were not too far out not too far out over england pastor george decided to watch the screen there's a little screen on the plane that shows you a little airplane and the little airplane shows you where you've been and where you're going and it gives you information how fast you're flying and how long you have to go what time it is when you get there and so we were headed for new york so he's watching the screen sometimes in boarding you just watch that little airplane so he was watching the plane and he had been watching and watching and watching and then he pokes me terry terry look look what what george it's the airplane we're making a u-turn a u-turn yeah we we were back halfway between england and new york and we're turning around george we can't be turning around we are we're turning around really well look you just stare at it watching a little airplane and sure enough it made finally a big broad turn and it's coming back coming back coming back and we're headed towards great britain what do you suppose i don't know a few other people who are watching on the airplane and you can start to hear a little bit of a buzz going on and then we could see the stewards and stewardesses at the at the front of the airplane they're talking and talking and talking to each other and yeah something's not right here do you suppose we have engine problems i don't know i can't imagine what it is and sure enough we commit we land and we let we landed it looks like from this little map it looks like we're in ireland why on earth are we landing in ireland of all places terry i don't know there's something strange about this i know what do you suppose is going on looking at people around us and wondering what to do and we just sat there on the airplane and we sat there we sat there and they're talking and whispering been there long enough that there's a guy who had a cell phone well we had cell phones but 20 years ago and not international not everybody went international and very few people actually had cell phones but this guy he has one so if they come on the loudspeaker and say okay we're going to disembark and then we'll let you back on okay all right we sit there then they came back on and said no gather all your things you'll be getting off uh you'll be contacted with someone will be staying here in dublin what what what's going on i know this is not feeling good at all but we all assume must be something wrong with the plane so we're we're up towards the front of the airplane and we get our things and start to go off and we're behind this man with a cell phone and he's talking as we walk down the jet way talking and talking and he says we've been attacked what america has been attacked attacked what do you mean attacked of course we're thinking pearl harbor i mean how do you attack them what what tell us more tell us i don't know anymore we've been attacked that's all i know we've been attacked and so we get off the plane and suddenly we're in this this airport area the place where the baggage is but it's not really big we travel international airports but this is pretty small by comparison a few few baggage claims and it's packed with people packed with people clearly more people than they are used to having and we're well what's this about what's going on we don't know what to think we're standing there waiting for our luggage what are we supposed to do who are we supposed to talk to we're expecting an airline person to come tell us and help us connect with hotels and all of a sudden i hear my name over the loudspeaker terry pearsons please contact the gate agent terry pearsons please contact a gate agent okay okay so i looked around and finally found someone i'm terry pearson's yes we have someone waiting for you what a person walks up introduced herself and said i am one of your partners we received a call from your office back in fort worth and ask us to come and meet you and the entire group here we have vans we have room and we are taking you to a hotel for the evening well praise the lord so i s can i find a phone while we're still waiting on the luggage to come and i went and caught phone and i called back home what's going on terry we really don't know but there are airplanes that have flown into the towers in new york i'm so glad to hear your voice we knew you were headed to new york and we've been praying for you we've been praying about your airplane sister brim when she heard they were watching in moscow and she called a friend of hers in israel they knew where you were they told us where your plan would plane would land and so we we called ahead and we have partners there for you and we have a hotel for you we only know about one night because they only had one night available but at least tonight you'll have a room for you and the group we're so glad that you're safe safe we could tell there was in everyone we talked to their voice the the concern the the realization that our plane was headed to new york and they had been watching the twin two hours be hit by airplanes and they knew we were headed there and to hear our voice calmed a lot of anxiety so i went back and i told the group well you know mama hen anointing kicked in for me and so got everybody together got our baggage and our lovely partners there had vans for us we loaded our baggage and off we went we had a beautiful hotel a wonderful place while we're watching all these other people struggled to get hotel rooms they were clearly not expecting these many people to suddenly need hotel rooms a lot of confusion in the room and in the air as we walked out of the airport and looked and there was a bar that was attached to the airport on the outside so we're walking and we're looking around of course where we are and we can see big tv screens in this bar well my whole group it's the first time we all gathered around the bar and we went to the door and we're looking in as the replays are happening and we see the planes fly into the towers i couldn't believe our eyes couldn't believe our eyes it's such a i don't know how to describe the feeling that it is when you're away from home not just away from your house but away from home everything that's familiar i'm in a city i hadn't been in before or out of the country my nation is under attack i can't reach my children i can't get a hold of people we don't know what's next we don't know when we're going home we don't know if we'll have a hotel room tomorrow so much uncertainty it's kind of hard to describe the the awkward displacement that just sits on you so we all loaded up in the vans went off to the hotel it was beautiful like i said and we found out that this these partners were having a bible study that night oh how marvelous well we'll be there we'll be there they were so gracious to invite us in and so we all went and boy did we have a time of prayer we had a time around the word they deferred to us let us share the word let us minister we had a time of prayer together it was marvelous so even being away from home and away from everything familiar and yet here we were with the family of god here we were with the people of god people had never met before a few hours ago and yet that sweet connection of the spirit and because they were partners they weren't just believers but believers of like faith what a connection it was we all went back to the hotel by now we can contact family and just try to figure out scratch our heads like everyone else what's going on what's going on the next day we were told that we could have the hotel room again because apparently they weren't allowing flights and so all the hotel rooms that were booked before had cancelled people couldn't get there so we had at least one more day wonderful in the meantime george is talking to his family and found out that the next day his dad fell broke his hip had to be taken to the hospital oh boy talk about heaping the pylon pylon technique so we're thinking about that we're thinking about our family we're sitting at the end of the bed because we don't know when we might be called back to the to the to the airport so we're on the edge of our bed watching the television watching the replay the replay the replay and trying to figure out who did this what's going on and then the the the scenes the sirens the stories are starting to unfold the first responders the firemen the policemen and the people that were dying and the overhead and the timelines and some of our group was able to get out and we we did go to lunch but i had to stay really close to the hotel because we didn't know if we were going to be asked to leave we didn't know if we were going to get a call to go to the airport and that same scenario replayed that day again the next day again the next day no flights nobody's going home no word and so we just stayed together prayed together finally on that friday team said we've got to get out again well you know i think i better stay back i think i better stay close just seems like maybe something will change today so they were all about to head out the door i'm in the lobby to kind of say goodbye and by now i knew all the hotel staff they knew who we were and it was so interesting to me the way the irish people so responded to us they have such an irish population in new york that for this to happen to us in new york they took it very personally they were so compassionate and this is america you attacked america they said you've attacked us and so they were in it with us and so as they were about to all go out the door and i'm standing in the lobby the man at the front desk said miss pearsons miss pearsons don't leave don't leave the airport is calling so i went i went to the phone and i talked to them i said yes they said be at the airport within the hour within the hour have you ever tried to repack within the hour and be at the airport hey everybody get back in here and so they all came in we all went to our rooms scrambled throwing things in our suitcases everyone's starting to shake we're going to get back on an airplane we're headed back to the states we don't know what flight we don't know what plane we don't know if we'll be together we don't know where we're flying into and so we're all gathered together they called cabs for us these wonderful cabs they're like the old cabs that they have in london you know the really big ones and you get in and you have seats that face each other and a little bit separate from the driver and so they had several of those cars lined up for us to get us all in but we're all standing there and the the irish taxi driver he said to us he said i i want to say a prayer i want to say a prayer can i say a prayer oh please say a prayer we'll take all of that that we can and so we gathered around in this sweet man which i'm not so sure he'd ever prayed too much in his life before and he stood there with his hat and his hand and to cry and he began to quote a catholic prayer and he was trying so hard but he was praying over us and he finally just said oh i'm just messing it up i'm just messing it up oh no you didn't mess it up it's wonderful it's wonderful and so we got in the the taxi we're sitting there and there are probably i don't know six or seven of us in the cab together at the same time and we're looking at each other i tell you this this will make anybody pray in tongues we're praying in tongues we're quoting the word we're quoting the 91st psalm and just trusting god but i tell you the the anxieties seem to be increasing not decreasing but we're holding fast together it's just hard to describe what that was like we get out of the cabs at the airport the traffic was crazy the people it's packed everywhere this airport is not used to this many people so we have the luggage carts we go in and we're trying to figure out where to go we're looking around and there are just a few few gates few desks to buy your tickets so we're in line and people are starting to shove and push and carts are everywhere and the noise it this the crowd and the volume is getting louder and louder and louder and louder and and you can hear it and you can hear the the tension they're implementing security where there's never been security and the the gate agents are trying to figure out what to do and they're they're saying oh okay well i have some questions i have to ask you okay what kind of questions so we are just about at the gate you can see they're flustered and they're concerned and and these irish accents seem to be getting more and more intense and you're trying to understand and people are bumping into each other and the volume's getting louder and louder and louder and then all of a sudden you hear and you hear it starts to get a little bit volume come down ding that's a speaker system they're about to say something shh everybody after a bit everybody's quiet we're listening and a man comes on father someone i wish i could remember his name the airport chaplain and he began to read the 46th song god is our refuge and strength a very present help in a time of trouble we will not fear be still know that i am god the god of jacob is our refuge hallelujah the silence was deafening of course you have to have a baby to cry or it's not real but and there was one just quiet and then this amazing beautiful celtic songbird came on she began to sing amazing grace and the empty silence just began to fill at the presence of god the presence of god and she's saying amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me oh how i wish i could just say it with that that irish tone and that irish clarity as she's saying and it pierced the silence it pierced it pierced the fear it pierced the anxiety it pierced everything and it was a collective oh and god was in the room she finished the noise began again process continued but it was different it was it was different the the anxiety quit building and the the the anticipation and the the agitations and the frustration it just seemed to all go away and now it was just get the job done even though they told us we couldn't all fly together okay it's going to be all right we prayed that changed we were all together ready to get on the airplane and george said terry i i think i should call my sister before we get on the plane okay george okay comes back in a minute my dad passed away your dad passed away yes my dad's gone to heaven you know he loved new york he loved new york and i think when he saw that happen he saw an opportunity and he took it no real grief no no sorrow moved in just just the sweet sweetness of knowing that grandpa was in heaven got on the plane completely uneventful landed in atlanta we had come in over the new york area and could still kind of see but we took a tour turned down into the south into atlanta we landed and got off the plane just glad to be in america so glad and there were all the gate agents lined up shouting and cheering and clapping and did we ever i don't know i ever wanted to kiss the ground as much as i wanted to that day america america there was a giant flag in the terminal and they got us through and transferred us over to our flight sent us through customs got us on the next flight and we were headed home headed home well sure enough you know george's dad had passed and so just three days later we were on another airplane headed back to boston and on to cape cod where the family was from it was then actually i guess that we flew over new york and looked down and we could see this still burning still smoldering wow but we went to the cape had a marvelous celebration of horus pearsons and his life and that kind of closed that out that whole encounter that we had but you know here's how that works today in that moment in that airport when there's such confusion such anxiety when it feels like the world is suddenly the the it is it's spinning at a higher speed than it's ever spun before i mean first it felt like it stopped then it feel like it's spinning out of control you don't know what's happening and just the reading of psalm 46 and just the acknowledgment of the grace of god the indimidible power of the word of god moved into this situation took hold grace took hold god moved in and it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that when all the world is falling apart jesus is still lord god hasn't fallen off the throne grace dominates the word dominates faith in him dominates the situation and even though now here we are 20 years later it hasn't gotten better in some most ways and it it's spinning even more crazy and it feels like the thing is going to fall apart but god but god but the name of jesus but the word of the lord but the holy spirit but the promise but grace but faith for grace but all of the good things the angels and the blood of jesus it's still christ's mercy it's still available it's still working today and so no matter what happens no matter what's going on i can think back on the airport in dublin ireland and i can hear that that priest reading psalm 46 and i can hear that darling celtic songbird singing amazing grace and i can took my eyes on the scriptures in front of my my with my bible today and so can you so can we our hope is not lost our hopes brings eternal our hope is in jesus hallelujah so i will never forget what happened in those towers on 9 11 we must also never forget that jesus is still lord [Music]

Channel: Eagle Mountain International Church

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Id: t7V5NE5OLAI

Length: 27min 30sec (1650 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021