Some days are remembered for their darkness.

September 11, 2001, is one of them. We remember where we were when we heard the news. We remember the airplanes, the smoke, the falling towers, and the terrible realization that thousands of lives were being lost.

But while America watched tragedy unfold, one life was quietly being saved.

The day before, a newborn baby died in Nashville. In their grief, the family chose to donate the baby’s organs. Only the liver could be used, and it was desperately needed by a six-month-old girl in Houston named Kareena.

Then September 11 happened.

American airspace was shut down. Commercial flights were grounded. The organ that could save Kareena was in Nashville, but there seemed to be no way to get it to Houston in time.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently told the story of Jill Grandas, a nurse with Tennessee Donor Services, who decided to make a phone call.

She found the number for the air traffic control tower at Nashville International Airport and called. The FAA approved the flight. The Tennessee Air National Guard responded. Soon, a C-130 military cargo plane was authorized to fly to Houston.

A plane capable of carrying tens of thousands of pounds took to an otherwise silent American sky carrying something that weighed only about ten ounces.

One tiny liver.

For one little girl.

Kareena received the transplant and lived.

Twenty-five years passed. She grew up, went to school, and is now a law student with an interest in health policy. For the past several years, she has called Jill every September 11. Recently, the two met in person for the first time.

What had once been a desperate phone call was now a grown woman standing in front of her.

Jesus said, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:14)

The most powerful word in Christ’s statement may simply be one.

God has always placed remarkable value on one.

One wayward sheep.

One lost coin.

One prodigal son.

And on September 11, one little girl in Houston was worth flying an enormous military aircraft through an empty American sky.

We can become overwhelmed by the size of the world’s problems. We cannot help everyone, heal every hurt, or change every tragedy. But there may be one person God has placed in front of us.

One person to encourage.

One burden to carry.

One call to make.

Jill could not change what happened on September 11. But she could make a phone call.

While a nation was counting lives lost, a group of people kept fighting for one life that could still be saved.

And one saved life is never a small thing.