I have never met Elise O’Kane. In fact, I have never spoken with Elise. While I know that she is a cheery, outgoing woman with sparkling blue-green eyes, I wouldn’t recognize her if I saw her in a crowd.

However, I would welcome the opportunity to have a conversation with Elise, as I believe her story could give me greater insight into the love that our Heavenly Father has for his children.

Elise O'Kane had served as a United Airlines flight attendant for more than twenty years. She worked the morning run from Boston to LA on United Flight 175 three times a week for years with a crew she considered her closest friends.

In August 2001, when scheduling September flights, Elise accidentally inverted two code numbers and wound up with wrong schedule - the first time she had made this mistake in twenty years. She managed to trade flights with other attendants for all her September trips -- except one… Flight 175 on September 11, 2001.

Because of her United Airlines seniority, she knew that she could still secure the flight the night before. So, on Sept. 10, she logged into the United Airlines computer system and tried to request UA 175. The system froze. By the time it finally processed her request, it was one minute past the airline's deadline for such changes.

Elise was not happy. She drove to work on Sept. 11, 2001 steamed. She would have to fly to Denver with a crew of complete strangers instead of flying to LA with her close friends.

The shuttle bus was pulling out of the employee parking lot at Logan International Airport when Elise noticed a young man frantically running towards the bus. She asked the bus driver to wait, allowing the young man to catch the shuttle. Robert Flanagan, a 33-year-old flight attendant threw himself into the seat beside Elise. He explained how excited he was to be on a flight he had bid on for months but had been unable to secure…Flight 175 to LA. He went on to tell Elise how thrilled he was to sit on a California beach. "I'm just so excited," he said. "This is a great trip."

"I can't believe you got it," Elise replied. "I tried to trade into that last night."
Seeing his passion, her anger melted as she told herself, "Just humble yourself and let him enjoy the trip."

When she went to check in for her flight, she was told that her seniority would still allow her bump Flanagan and take her usual flight. But she didn't want to break the young man's heart.

It was the last time Elise O’Kane was ever to see Flanagan or her crew again. Her Denver-bound plane left Boston Logan between AA Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, and UA Flight 175, her usual flight, which struck the South Tower.

"Why me -- out of all those wonderful people?" she asked. "What have I done? I'm not a saint or angel." "God has a plan for you," she heard over and over. "You were meant to be here."

There were many who, after 9/11, experienced survivor’s guilt. Robert Herzog served as an executive at Marsh & McLennan on the 96th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower. He was five minutes late for work because of an excessively long line at the post office – a long line that saved his life. Greer Epstein, an executive director at Morgan Stanley, who rarely left her office on the 67th floor, took a cigarette break just minutes before UA 175 crashed into the South Tower killing everyone on the her floor. On the night of September 10th, Daniel Belardinelli backed out of a trip to Yosemite National Park. His scheduled flight, United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

But for Elise O’Kane, it was different. Someone literally took her place.

This past month, America looked back on 9/11. The day has become our national benchmark. It's the point from which modern America is measured, the day life changed in our nation. The day the darkness appeared too great to see our way. On 9/11 we witnessed the most awful evil in humanity revealing the greatest good in humanity. In the midst of countless stories we found hope. We were reminded that evil never has the final word.

A lot has changed since 9/11: TSA airport searches are routine, Homeland Security entered our vocabulary and red, orange and yellow were no longer just colors but were also threat levels. My son checked mail every day at Wheaton College in the Todd Beamer Student Center

However, it is important to remember that there are a number of things that have not changed since 9/11. God’s sovereign love and care remain constant. The Rock has not moved, shifted, realigned or changed.

President Obama, speaking at the memorial service on September 11, 2011, could not have given a better speech. He chose to read, without comment, Psalm 46.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

What hasn’t changed since 9/11? God hasn’t changed since 9/11.

Elise O’Kane and I have something significant in common. Someone saved our lives by taking our place. Jesus Christ lived the life I should have lived and died the death I should have died. Our hope comes from the Cross - history’s Ground Zero. The Cross of Jesus Christ is where God gave up his son in an unjust attack. The Cross of Jesus Christ is where heaven’s greatest good came out of earth’s worst tragedy.