Pray For Our Troops

I live in an army town.

Clarksville, Tennessee is connected to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne Division, including the 160th Nightstalker Special Forces and the 5th Special Forces Group.

They are now, for the next couple of months, engaged in another major deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I was never in the military, and when I came to Clarksville in 1986, I didn't really know the difference between a Sergeant and a Colonel. But for many years now, I've been in the homes of hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers and their families.

I've come to love them, respect them, pray for them, and sometimes counsel them. I have watched them come and go on reassignments to other stations, and in deployment to battle. I've watched the tears of "Goodbye" and "My Daddy Is A Hero", and "Welcome Back, Honey", and "I Lost My Legs In Battle, But I Wish I Could Go Back Again", and "I Lost My Husband And My Kids' Dad To A Bullet".

I know the war in Iraq is controversial.

But I also have the privilege of knowing the men and women who have gone there, sometimes for their third tour of duty.

I see the hardship, but I see the courage of soldiers that I'm old enough to call kids.

I see the pain of separation, but I see the sense of justice in the eyes of soldiers who mean to fight evil.

I see the occasional scarred face or prosthetic leg, but I see something I don't see enough of outside the military...a comaraderie...a brotherhood of respect and duty and a cause they're willing to die for.

I serve in what has been called the army of the Lord. A peaceful army of good news called the Gospel. The good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, and rose again from the dead, because He loves us, and that whoever will believe in Him will be saved from the wrath of God, and will have eternal life.

It's a different mission, a different brotherhood, a different cause.

But I'm willing to die for it, too.

And I'm inspired by our soldiers. And I ask you to pray for them.

Here is a tribute to them:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1