Port Authority Police Department officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin were the last two people rescued from the World Trade Center following the September 11th terrorist attack. Oliver Stone told their story in his 2006 movie titled World Trade Center.

For Will Jimeno, however, that tragic day represents a defining moment in his Christian faith. Along with McLoughlin and three other officers, Jimeno entered Tower 1 on a mission to rescue as many civilians as possible. But almost as soon as they got inside, the building collapsed. McLoughlin and Jimeno were pinned under large blocks of concrete rubble and twisted steel. The other three officers were killed instantly.

For the next 10 hours, Jimeno and his partner fought through pain and thirst inside a cramped concrete tomb swirling with dust and smoke. At times, ruptured gas lines would send fireballs hurtling into the collapsed ruins, threatening to burn the two men to death. In another terrifying moment, heat from the fireballs "cooked off" the ammunition inside the firearm of a fallen officer, sending 15 bullets ricocheting around the chamber.

At that point, Jimeno's hope began to falter. "We had been crushed, burnt, and shot at by then," he said. "I was exhausted. I had done everything as a police officer that I could do, and everything as a human being. I was at that point where I just knew I was going to die."

Yet when things began to seem unbearable, Jimeno saw a figure coming toward him through the rubble. "He wore a glowing white robe and a rope belt," he said. "I couldn't see his face, but I knew it was Jesus." Jimeno saw an endless sea of waving grass over the figure's left shoulder and a lake over the right. He says, "I remember asking Jesus, 'If I get to heaven, can I have some water?'"

According to Jimeno, the vision filled him with a new volley of hope. "I had this resurgence of optimism, this resurgence of the will to fight," he said. Turning toward McLoughlin, he yelled, "We're going to get out of this hellhole!" And they did. Several hours later, U.S. Marines and NYPD rescue workers lifted him out of his temporary prison, and Jimeno thanked God.

The events of that day have given him a new perspective on the brevity of life. He noted that, even if a person lives to be 90-years-old, that's only a little over 32,000 days. "It's not that many," Jimeno said. "You have to do good and do right with the small period you have in between."