Leap Of Faith

When the sun finally came up it proved to be a beautiful Tuesday morning. Cool fall air and not a cloud in the sky. The morning commute to downtown Manhattan seemed a little more pleasant than usual. Jonathan Briley walked into the World Trade Center that fateful day looking up as always. I think about him.

The son of a Baptist Pastor, Jonathan grew up working on his daddy’s P.A. system. His interest in music and speaking eventually landed him a job at the famed restaurant Windows of the World as the sound engineer. Anytime there was a conference or a celebration, it was Jonathan’s job to set up and run the sound equipment.

On September 11th, 2001, the restaurant was holding a breakfast for 16 members of the Waters Financial Technology Congress, and 71 other guests. It was a day Jonathan had to be there early. About 20 minutes after he arrived, American Airlines flight 11 slammed into the North Tower just a few stories beneath him.

Eating in that same restaurant was Alayne Gentul, 44, a senior vice-president of the Fiduciary Trust and mother of two. As the room began to fill up with smoke she called her husband.

“Smoke is coming in from everywhere, Jack.” She labored to tell her husband. “Guys are breaking the windows.”

“Honey, go to the stairs and get out of there.”

“We can’t,” she responded, “it’s too hot in the stairs. Like an oven.”

Cameras and History
So many terrible things happened that day we will not forget. Some, we will want to.
As the estimated 1000 people trapped on floors 100 through 107 began trying to move away from the inferno, New Yorkers looked up with their hands over their mouths.

A photojournalist named Richard Drew, lived close to the towers. Richard was already no stranger to history. He had been one of only four photographers in the room when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated nearly forty years earlier.

At 9:41 am, 56 minutes after the ordeal had started; Richard pointed his I-lens upward and caught a man falling. He took 12 pictures of Jonathan Briley as he plunged 1300 feet to Church Street below.

The Falling Man
It’s believed that Jonathan is the famous “falling man”. The picture seen by millions throughout the world, of a person headed straight down completely vertical, almost casual.

His arms are by his side; his left leg is bent at the knee, and his white jacket billowing free against black pants. In the one famous picture he perfectly splits the towers. The north tower is to his left and the south tower to his right. Its an amazing photograph and one most of wish we hadn’t seen.

Jonathan was asthmatic and the toxic fumes forced him outside for almost an hour before he took flight. I think he thought it better to die flying then to die choking. In a place where every option had been taken away from him he somehow mustered the courage to step out of the heat and into the hands of God.

In one of many interviews, Jonathan's elder sister, Gwendolyn, says: “When I first looked at the picture... and I saw it was a man like him, tall and slim, I said, ‘If I didn't know any better, that could be Jonathan.’

When asked if his apparent jumping collided with their Christian theology she said something I think is quite brilliant. “Let me tell you how much Jonathan loved God. He trusted him so much that he jumped 105 stories expecting God to catch him.” To Gwendolyn there was victory for her brother even in this tragedy…. especially in this tragedy.

No matter what terrible thing we are facing today, it pales compared to what Jonathan faced. Whatever tough decisions, I hope we have the courage to trust God when nothing else makes since. Jonathan Briley and his sister Gwendolyn preach to me. They help me.

I believe the next time we see Jonathan; he won’t be falling at all…he’ll be risen. Now that’s a picture I want to see.

1 Corinthians 15:54
“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”