Remembering April 19, 1995

Seems hard to believe that the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK killing 168 people and injuring 500 was 13 years ago today.

I remember that day so clearly.

I was living in Tulsa, OK at the time; working full time for my pastor's ministry and the church I was attending.

Every morning one of the pastors of the church led the staff in prayer.

That morning as we were praying a quietness came over all of us.

That morning's prayer session was different and we all knew it, but didn't know why. Normally, as we all left the room to go back to our own work spaces we would be joyful and talkative.

Not that morning.

We were all quiet.

I always kept a radio in my work space and when I returned at 9:15, I turned it on.

I remember looking at my phone and seeing a number of messages and thinking that odd for so early in the morning. Calls usually didn't start coming in until after 10:00 AM.

If I remember correctly, the bomb went off around 9:02 AM.

At 9:20 AM my phone began to ring again and it didn't stop the entire day.

As I drove home that night, I could barely get to my drive way because the road was filled with cars.

Cars parked EVERYWHERE.

Miles of cars parked EVERYWHERE.

I lived across the street from the Red Cross Blood Center.

Watching the news, I remember being so struck by the sight of the children being carried out of the massive, massive destruction.

None of the children were crying. Not one.

This was a trauma many of us had never before experienced.

Oklahoma City, OK, April 19, 1995 -- remembering both the fallen and the heroes of that day.

Comments

[Dale Shack]

My sincere prayers and hope for a continued peaceful future throughout Oklahoma. (And the coutry). I had two good friends living in Tulsa when you were there. You've travelled a lot, that makes these events seem even more hard to comprehend, when you know the basic decency of most all of America. This was a shocking event. I've seen riots, had bullets fired near me in Miami, a gun pulled out next to me by a guy in Baltimore, and of course spent time in Viet Nam, but I never had a shock like this day brought, this was new in our time. I stood on the World Trade center several times, A friend of mine was right next to the first World Tarde Center attack. And you my friend, there but for the grace of god...we all have close calls.
A kind remeberance by you.