I heard the roar of the Black Hawks racing low on the Horizon before I spotted them. They are our guardian angels hovering never far from us, a radio blip away from support, extraction, supplies. But today, they are bringing in fallen heroes as I wait my mind floats back over the last part of my own journey..
In one of my favorite movies, a newspaper reporter walks up to Capt Call after finishing his 1000 mile trek with Gus, the reporter said, "they say your a man of vision,.......A myriad of images of his life float across his mind's eye screen....all that had been lost, all that had been accomplished..so much sacrifice on the journey, to which he then replied, "yea helluva vision".
Many have pondered my journey, me not the least..some have judged, some have supported, some have stopped being my friend..like Woodrow's life my journey has come at great cost....at times it has not been understood by those on the outside asking questions...but if i have learned anything from this path, it is that true friends reveal themselves in the hard times, like Job's friends, they may not always say the right thing, but they come, they show up, stay up, and shut up for long periods of time in support, and my favorite part, many of you spoke up...with words of life, and at times words of direction when I was wandering...
Like Capt Call, as I reflect today on it all, I am reminded in life that their is always going to be evil present, I believe the Apostle Paul even penned those words...so wishing for trouble or evil free lives, is just that, wishful thinking...instead I have learned and am still learning that while there is always evil or bad present, there is also always good..it is not just a matter of perspective either, I have seen tremendous good come from horrendous evil....and it has caused me to have more faith, not less, a deeper resiliency to who I am in Christ. And who He is in me....and so tonight I wait...
To watch young men be tenderly carried onto a plane, to kneel and say a prayer over them and their waiting family, who are on the other side of this desert waiting to receive their loved one finally home, who gave their last full measure of devotion to God and country, and it always brings a tears to my eyes....
Almighty God, my prayer is that our lives invested here will have made a difference, that there will one day be a free united Afghanistan...but till then my prayer is for my brothers and sisters in arms in harms way....God please be their forward shield, and their rear guard, give your angels charge over them to keep them and protect them...and as each new Hero takes their place by your side...may they join the ranks of those watching over us
Tonight as I shed tears in the desert
please grant this chaplain's prayer..
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