That’s How We Roll - Lisa Beamer

1969–

September 11 has become a strange sort of “holiday” in the United States, a time of collective grieving as we remember the 2001 attacks on our country. Some find it odd that we would “celebrate” our losses, but we have found something else to be proud of: the willing sacrifice of those who put themselves in danger to save others.

Among these heroes are the passengers of Flight 93 who gave their lives to thwart the hijackers’ plans to attack another national target. And among those passengers was a Christian man named Todd Beamer.

His widow, Lisa, was thrust into the spotlight, making hundreds of media appearances in the months following the attacks. She also put out a book entitled Let’s Roll, named after her husband’s favorite catchphrase. Fame can be cruel sometimes, and fickle. Some criticized her for trying to profit from this national tragedy. Some distrusted the charitable foundation she set up. But Lisa was processing her own grief in a very public way, and she hoped that her Christian witness and that of her departed husband would somehow be heard through the din. Eventually the media machine was finished with her, and she sank back into relative anonymity.

In 2011, she gave the commencement address at the school from which she and Todd had both graduated, Wheaton College in Illinois. Introducing herself as “a suburban mom from New Jersey,” she challenged the students to be agents of redemption. “This is how we know redemption: when we see broken things made whole; when what’s been discarded is restored to its rightful place; when those in peril are brought back to safety; when a path of restoration becomes clear; when love shines in the place that’s been starving for it.”

She noted that some of these students might find fame for great accomplishments, or perhaps for stupid YouTube videos, but their true significance might come without fanfare. “What an honor we’ve been given to cooperate with God as he works in the world!”

In closing, she gave the audience—and us—some questions to ask: “Who is becoming whole again on your watch? What is being healed through your influence? How is God redeeming his creation by way of your life?”

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:13