Oct 7, 2002 By Josh Krysak 5 min read

Many people remember where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, when they heard that the World Trade Center had been attacked. For Teaneck, N.J., resident Sujo John, who was working on the 81st floor of Tower One, that horrific event and the chaos that followed has changed his life forever. John, who moved to the United States in February 2001 from his home in Calcutta, India, spoke Sunday at Faith Assembly of God in Uniontown of that tragic day and how God has used the terrible events for good.

“God is in the business of turning goodness out of tragedies,” said the 26-year-old businessman. John said that the events of that day have led his life in a new direction. He said that after the attacks he quit his job and decided to tell his story full-time, a decision that he says was easy, despite the fact that his wife, Mary, was pregnant at the time of the attacks.

“We took a big hit in our finances because I had a good job, but churches do love offerings and support us in different ways …and that has been a big help,” John said.

John told the crowded church a story that sounds eerily familiar to many television exposes about Sept. 11.

He said a plane struck the floors just above his office and that after the initial shock, he and other employees made their way down crowded and smoke-filled stairwells.

As he walked down past floors of fires and turmoil, John told the audience that he attempted to contact his wife, who worked for Morgan Stanley on the 71st floor of Tower Two and normally arrived at work between 8:45 and 9 a.m.

John said that because everyone was trying to use their cell phones, the signals were completely jammed and he could not get through. On the 53rd floor, he said was able to use a landline to reach a relative and his pastor and to let them know the situation, but still was unable to reach Mary.

After descending about 40 floors, John said that the exodus began to pass hundreds of firefighters and police officers on their way up, not knowing what the next step might hold.

John said that the people were encouraging the emergency workers on and he said he realized then how much harder it must have been to be climbing up, rather than hurrying down.

“We had no idea that these men were walking up to their deaths,” he said. “It was really hard for us to be going down all 81 floors, but imagine with me how hard it was for these brave men to be not knowing where they are stepping on and with all the equipment and stuff they we’re carrying.”

John said that it took about an hour to reach the mezzanine level of the tower and that the scene of the courtyard covered with the bodies of jumpers from the upper floors is one he will never forget.

“When we saw that picture, we began breaking down,” he said.

According to John, he and a group of about 15 people had just reached the revolving doors when Tower Two, which John hadn’t even known had been attacked, came down.

“When I realized what was happening I said, ‘God this is it.'”

It was then that John said he fell to the ground and called out the name of Jesus. About 20 minutes later, John said he rose from the debris and ash in a cloud and saw that all those he had been with had been crushed.

John said that he was able to find an FBI agent and the two helped each other out of the building, directed by the flashing light of the only emergency vehicle in the area not to be crushed, a light that John said God gave for a purpose.

“The front part of the ambulance was still standing, the light was still flashing and I know that God had kept that light just for us, so that we could find our way out of Ground Zero that morning,” he said. John said that the agent who helped him to safety, went back into Tower One, and a few days later, John learned he was killed in the collapse.

Later, as John aimlessly wandered away in shock, fearing the worst for his wife, he said he received a cell phone call. It was his wife who told him that she had never made it to work that morning. The two were reunited along 39th Street around 4 p.m.

The Johns never realized that their lives could change in an instant, something that Sujo wants to share with the nation.

John has been speaking across the country since the attacks at churches, schools and sporting events, describing his story and proclaiming the word of God, something that the congregation at Faith Assembly feels is important and moving.

“I think it was a wonderful message that everyone should heed, because you don’t know what the day is going to hold,” said Smithfield resident Becky Crago. McCllelandtown resident Laurie Rodeheaver, who had already heard John speak on the Christian television network, TBN, agrees with Crago.

“Today could be the day, you never know when you are going to die, and you might not get another chance,” she said.

John said that that message is important, and that although the events of Sept. 11 will always be tragic, they have afforded him an opportunity.

“The real reason I’ve traveled around the country telling this story is so I can tell the greatest story ever told, the story of Jesus Christ,” he said.