SWNID has commented before on the courage and dedication of America's servicemen and women, mostly connecting stories in the news with personal anecdotes from our contacts with active duty and reserve servicepeople.
Well, here's another one.
We've heard that National Guard units are on their way to the south to help in aid and recovery efforts. One such soldier is Cincinnati Christian University student Larry Vinson.
Larry has already served in Iraq. Back in the classroom at CCU, he's now been activated again, with the semester barely a week old, to serve in Mississippi. Worse, his wife is expecting their first child any day now.
Larry will not be present for the birth of their child. But he will be present for all of us in Mississippi.
He called me tonight, to check on what could be done to salvage his semester. Of course, we'll do everything we can to keep his education moving toward graduation. But there's not much we can do for the pain of his separation from his wife and child.
But we can thank him, honor him and those like him, and continue to try to live in a way that reflects our gratitude for sacrifices like his, remembering that there is an even bigger sacrifice on our behalf, gratitude for which has changed everything about life.
3 comments:
so, you get a lot of spam here.
i just wanted to say that i also really appreciate our soldiers' dedication. May God keep brother Vinson and all our soldiers safe.
And may God keep all Iraqi children safe from bombs. Especially anti-personnel bombs, like the ones we promised not to use... especially not on their hospitals...
and may God keep all iraqi soldiers safe. May they not plummet into the judgment of the godless before their time, at the hands of good christians who are dedicated and patriotic, and most likely blameless, although they find themselves inflicting terrible violence...
I understand the support for our troops. we are americans. But aren't we Christians first? Your blog seems to reverse that a bit in its coverage perspective...
Maybe you could write a piece on loving our neighbors, nonviolent resistance's efficacity in changing the world, and the predicament the church finds itself in now that it's being phagocytized by nationalistic rhetoric...
Maybe a little more perplexity over the life and death issues facing a christian in the military? Not so... so... "seldom wrong"?
Nice comment, Lew. Much appreciated.
N.B. that the tone of this blog is sarcastic in its arrogance. See the first post, archived. And that one can only blog so much. Comments are selective, occasional, informal. Balance is impossible. There is no "coverage" here. I have unblogged thoughts.
Humans are all flawed. Americans are included. Wars can be just, but they are never executed with perfect justice. Warriors are never utterly righteous.
The cruciform lives of people other than soldiers deserve at least the accolades given to those in uniform. Probably more. Maybe after cutting my grass, cleaning my house, blowing sax with the worship band and teaching the Bible to middle-aged adults, I'll get to a blog on the lunch that I had yesterday with a former student who is deciding between going to Thailand to teach English and do practical service or going to West Virginia to tutor for GEDs and do practical service.
The efficacy of nonviolence is demonstrable, but so are its limitations. Britain was moved by Ghandi, but Germany was not moved by Bonhoeffer or Niemoller. And Ghandi's efforts still left Britain's India a nuclear war zone sixty years later.
Miserable people that we are, who will rescue us from this body of death? I believe you know the answer.
Lew, one other thing. There will be no blog on "the predicament the church finds itself in now that it's being phagocytized by nationalistic rhetoric." This blogger finds such generalizations about "the church" to be utterly useless.
Mostly I'll generalize only about generalizations.
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