STORY
Todd Beamer
September 11, 2001 is a day that will forever be remembered. A devastating terrorist attack on America left 3,374 people dead and thousands more injured. Two passenger planes were hijacked and crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, and a third was crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth was hijacked as well, but a team of brave men and women on the flight united and stopped the plot. A man named Todd Beamer emerged as the leader of this group of unlikely heroes.
Todd had grown up in a Christian home. His parents taught their children the Word of God, and his mom read the Proverbs daily over breakfast. Todd played sports and learned perseverance. In college, while dating his future wife, Lisa, he told her he wanted to “drop my do-it-my-way attitude and go deeper in my relationship with God.” When he and Lisa married and began their family, he worked hard at his job but was also committed to his young sons, spending quality time with them every day.
On that morning of September 11, Todd was traveling for work on an early flight from Newark, New Jersey, when terrorists took over the plane. Several passengers managed to call loved ones and learned about the other attacks. They realized their flight was destined for another suicide crash. The plane, flown without automatic controls, lurched unpredictably—dropping altitude, accelerating, and bobbing around chaotically.
Todd, ignoring the hijacker with a bomb, called a GTE Airfone operator and gave her information. She offered to stay on the line if it didn’t endanger him. Through this call, we know what unfolded. The operator, Mrs. Jefferson, later marveled at Todd’s calmness and clear thinking. Todd, along with other passengers and flight attendants, quickly formed a plan to stop the terrorists. They knew the plane was going down—but if they intervened and forced it into a field, countless innocent lives would be spared.
When Todd returned to the line, he asked Mrs. Jefferson to relay a message to his family, telling them how much he loved them. Then he asked her to recite the Lord’s Prayer with him. Together they prayed. Todd also recited Psalm 23, and others on the flight joined him: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Mrs. Jefferson heard Todd breathe deeply as he let go of the phone and turned to the others with his famous last words: “Are you ready? Let’s roll!”
Over the open connection came clatter, screams—then silence. We can’t be sure what happened in those final moments before Flight 93 crashed into a Pennsylvania field. But because of Todd’s bravery, and the sacrifice of many others, the hijackers’ plan was thwarted and countless lives spared. Todd’s quick thinking, self-sacrifice, and deep faith in the Lord Jesus Christ sustained him in the most difficult test of his life.
