Christians’ faith inspires Alabama woman

A new book, “As the Towers Fell,” is aptly described on its cover as offering “personal insights of Christians rocked by 9/11 — ordinary people in the most extraordinary of circumstances.”
   
“Some died,” the text continues, “some survived forever changed, some worked in recovery efforts. All came face to face with what they really believed and emerged with individual stories as compelling as the extraordinary one they all shared.”
   
The author, Lisa Chilson-Rose, has devoted 17 years of ministry and volunteer efforts to the people of New York. Originally from Alabama, she is currently the director of volunteers and partnerships for the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. While a college student, Chilson–Rose attended University Baptist Church in Montevallo.
   
The book was released Aug. 1 by New Hope Publishers, a division of National Woman’s Missionary Union.
   
Chilson-Rose, as she assisted in relief efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, “noticed as we met families and individuals that God had already begun to do incredible things in their lives, and I knew that this somehow needed to be written down.”
   
The book is divided into three sections:
   
–“Faithful Unto Death,” encompassing five chapters on the last moments of believers who died and the lives they had lived prior to 9/11. One chapter, for example, focuses on Al Braca, a church member and faithful husband and father who sought to be a witness to coworkers at a brokerage firm in One World Trade Center.
   
–“Faithful in Service,” with seven chapters from various police officers or firefighters who worked at Ground Zero.
   
–“Faithful to Carry On,” with 11 chapters, with headings such as “God Can Mend the Scars” and “A Hand of Comfort Came Over Us.”
   
Chilson-Rose writes at the outset of the book, “September 11, 2001, changed our lives in the metro New York area in ways that are too numerous to list. These past two years have been tumultuous to say the least, but despite it all, we have come through it. The folks in this book, both those who died and those who survived, will show you how God can work in the most difficult of circumstances.”
   
Everyone, including Christians, will face hardships in life, she writes, turning to the Lord’s words in Revelation 2:10 for encouragement.
   
“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer…. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (BP)