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Tragedy survivor follows path to God

Sept. 8, 2006

Henry Chan/Lariat staff Sept. 11 survivor, Sujo John, shares his experience of escaping death at the World Trade Center on Thursday night in Bennet Auditorium.

By ALLIE COOK
Reporter

An instrumental version of the hymn song played in the background of a video in Thursday night in Bennett Auditorium. Words weren't needed to identify the tune.

At the same time, images needing no explanation were displayed on the screen.

A commercial plane flying over the New York skyline. The north tower of the World Trade Center exploding in flames as the plane crashes into it. Debris falling as pedestrians begin running for their lives. Firefighters and policemen rushing to Ground Zero.

These images, shown in a video memorial served as an introduction for speaker Sujo John. Both he and his wife are survivors of the Sept. 11 tragedy.

"Watching people die changed my life forever," John said. "I'm now in proclamation evangelism, and God has opened doors for me in crusades all over the world."

John came to Baylor as a speaker for Asians for Christ, a Christian fellowship on campus that is affiliated with a national campus ministry called InterVarsity.

Baylor was the last stop on John's evangelistic outreach through InterVarsity, said Jon Parker, the ministry's regional director for North Texas.

John has told his story at four campuses in the last three days.

His is a story of survival, hope and, indeed, amazing grace.

"I remember very clearly the morning of Sept. 11," he said.

At the time, John worked for Network Plus on the 81st floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center.

He and his wife moved to New York from Calcutta, India, in February 2001 and both took jobs in the towers.

John recalled several details of that morning that he now sees as more than coincidental -- in his words, "miraculous."

For instance, his wife decided to leave for work early that morning but was waylaid by traffic. She was four and a half months pregnant.

"Thank God for New York City traffic," he said.

The morning of the tragedy, John looked out his office window and thought to himself, "'God, it's amazing. As I look out these windows, I see my life has changed so much (since I left India). What else could I be asking for in life?'"

He then sent an e-mail to an individual at his church expressing hope to get more involved.

"Ever since I moved to America, all I (found) myself doing (was) going to church on Sundays and warming the pews," John said.

He knew he had a call on his life to be used by God, but said he did not feel he was fulfilling that call.

John and the others soon began to make their way to the stairwell nearby.

After making it out of the building, John said he witnessed hundreds of the bodies of those who jumped from the north tower windows.

An hour later, John found himself lying face-down on the ground of his office as debris and fireballs began falling down all around him.

Breanna Bunnell, a freshman from Highland, Calif., attended John's speech.

"I had never heard any kind of firsthand accounts of someone who was at the World Trade Center and survived," Bunnell said.

Hanna Lee, a senior from Izmir, Turkey, said hearing John's story changed her perspective on the tragic events.

"After I came here and heard him speak, I saw that people actually inside the whole incident were reaching out to God and peoples lives were being changed because of 9/11," Lee said.

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