“Someone flew an airplane into the World Trade Center.” Chances are you remember exactly where you were when you heard those words.

I had just cleared customs in China.

JR and I flew out on Monday, September 10, 2001 to meet some workers and set up a trip for the following summer. Two months prior to that day we had flown to Japan for our first ever iGo student trip, and now we were excited to add a college trip to the options for 2002.

And then everything changed. We had no idea at the time. In fact, we were so jet-lagged from the flight and the 13 hour time change that we couldn’t even stay awake to watch the coverage of the attacks. We went to bed and woke up the next morning ready to plan for the future. We didn’t know how much the future had been altered.

A week later we arrived back at Chicago O’Hare Airport and were stunned at the silence and the emptiness. We came back to a country that was still in shock. That was the first time I began to really wonder what this meant for the future of iGo.

Here we were trying to get a new organization off the ground with the purpose of helping a generation of students engage the world’s least reached peoples. Our plan was to send them to “closed” countries. We wanted to make an impact in the darkest of places.

Who would be willing to go with us after this?

Looking back 12 years later I am honestly amazed at the answer . It didn’t come quickly or  easily. Year two recruiting was definitely more challenging than year one. There was a collective country-wide circling of the wagons. For a season, America holed up in our corner of the world and asked everyone to leave us alone.

For a season.

And then a generation responded. In 2003, a struggling to make this work organization trained and mobilized 60 students. In 2004, 110. By the time we finished the summer of 2012 we were beyond 3000 a nd counting.

This wasn’t about iGo. We weren’t and aren’t that smart or strategic. It was about God and His work in this generation. Students who were willing to obey the Great Commission no matter what. Parents who didn’t just allow their children to go. They encouraged. They supported. They sent. All we did at iGo is find ourselves right in the middle of a generation of students who were compelled to go simply because they could and they realized that if they could…they should. They became an Acts 20:22-24 generation.

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” -Acts 20:22-24

And that generation paved the way for this next generation. Students continue to go. Youth group mission trips are now almost a given at any church. God’s work continues in every nation, tribe, and tongue and He continues to send out willing and obedient teenagers to make Him famous.

So on this day of national reflection, we should remember.

Remember that tragic day. Remember the heroes of that day. Remember the victims. Remember where you were that day. We should never forget those things.

But, we also need to remember the Ancient Work. Remember that God still desires all nations, all tribes, all peoples to worship Him. The task isn’t finished. And He allows us (commands us actually) to be part of it.

As you remember, reflect on your response. Where will you make Him famous today? Where will you make Him famous next summer? Where will you make Him famous this year?

Where were you and where are you going?