Veterans Day 2013.

How my views have changed since I was a young adult.  As a child of the 60's and 70's I was strongly against the Viet Nam war, and I had studied WWI and WWII--I saw only unwise men causing bloodshed on others.  I saw the word of God saying "Thou Shalt Not Kill"...War was killing and killing was sin.

But, then I had children.  Now, I could not EVER see one of my sons going off to fight a foreign war, being maimed for life for the greed of men.  It was WRONG, and there was no discussion.

Now, I am a grandmother and I do not want to see war.  But, I respect the men who will defend my grandchildren, my land, my heritage.  And one of those soldiers is a son of mine.  I raised him to not even play with guns.  I envisioned him as a spiritual leader and had confidence in the "word" God had given me concerning this.  But, then God changed my thinking.  David, a mighty warrior was a man of God.  God had "called" David to be a warrior from a child.  I was standing in the way of God's purpose for my eldest son.
Did I know God well enough to trust Him with my first born son?  Could I relinquish control?  Hadn't I given this son to the Lord before his birth and prayed for God's purposes for his life the moment he was born?

The "word" I had received of the Lord was that my sons were to be "leaders of men"...and I reluctantly had to admit that leading men in the military was still leading men.  And where did we need more men of strength and integrity than in a place that formed the souls, character and strength of men?  I let go.

It wasn't long and my son became Chief, a Commander in the USCG.  And for such a time as this when the military want to leave "so help me God" out of their oath.  As has been stated before by men of great sacrifice, strength, perseverance and maybe a little rough around the edges, "there are not atheists in fox holes"...

The silly wars men fight cannot be won with our ideology, but men of strength can imbody our ideology.  They can be influencers.  They can stand strong when forces beyond us threaten--not just wars but tsunami's and typhoons and hurricane, disasters that signal the end of this earth.  Messiah is returning and he will bring us a new heaven and a new earth--this one was never made to last.  And these end time warriors are the David's of our generation.  I thank them.  I respect them.  I pray for them.

And, if you are smart, you will at least take a second look at your ideology and ask the God of the Universe if He needs to tweak your thinking--He did mine.