Serving Our Country in Afghanistan ~~ A Testimony from a Soldier

Exodus 12:26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?

Hey all. Here is the picture from the Medal Ceremony. My first AF Medal really earned. See you all soon. Lots of love, Lacy

My friend Trish R's sister is serving in Afghanistan. Lacy is a young single woman who is making her mark on the world. She is doing something crucially important for us all and for future generations should Jesus tarry His coming. When Lacy left the States to "work over there," Trish provided Lacy's address so that I could write to her. I wrote not really knowing what to say but wanting to be an encouragement to Lacy. The tables have totally turned as Lacy's emails have blessed and encouraged me. She is not "down and out" but she is a vibrant young lady who is excited about what she and her comrades are accomplishing. Here is the latest email I have received from her. It was written on December 30 she she is soon to ship out of there and return to the States. Please pray for her safe return and may we NEVER get lazy and complacent and forget to pray for all of those serving and protecting us here at home.

...I am still in Afghanistan, should be leaving here in about 11 days and headed home. I can't wait. And you are very welcome for my service. I would not have it any other way. I am very proud of what I do and what I am part of. Being here has been rough, but a life changing experience. It brought me back to God, where I should have been all along. And I know that, because of the sacrifices that we make, our families stay safe. I only hope that future generations realize the same and choose to serve as well. So many people have forgotten why this war started. America is truly the greatest nation on the planet and no matter what politicians are running the show I will always chose to serve as long as I am able. I received my first medal ever here, it was such a good feeling. God is truly smiling on me, taking the load off my shoulders, and making me a better person everyday...

With love, Lacy

A Salute To Our Troops With An Open Letter by Ben Stein

Ecc 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

A friend recently shared with me a piece written by Ben Stein and suggested that I put it on my blog, which I thought was a great idea. I do so as a salute to those who are serving in our armed forces to keep us safe and to keep us free.

Richard and I know two young women who are currently serving our Country. One is our former campus daughter, Elise. She is currently in her first phase of marine training at Parris Island, SC. Here is an except from a letter we received last week:

"Thank you for your letter. It brought a ray of sunshine to my somewhat cloudy day. Things here in boot camp are really tough, but I am learning to just take it as it comes and give it my all. We are constantly learning new things from martial arts, swimming, rappelling, shooting and also a lot of USMC history. Sometimes it's hard to keep up because of all the information that gets thrown at us all at once. I can't wait till graduation! I graduate December 7th and I get 10 days of leave and 28 days of recruiters assistance. Since I've been here, I think I have become even closer to God. They allow us to attend church on Sundays and we get 10 minutes of devotions time every night. I've never appreciated God more than I do now. I'm really glad I came here, especially since it has strengthened my faith. Well, I've gotta go now. Tell all the campus daughters I said hi!! :) Love much, Elise (a.k.a. RCT Gerard)"

And another is a young woman named Lacy who is the sister of a friend of ours. Lacy is on her way to Iraq. Here is the email I just received from Trish (our friend and Lacy's sister) which told that Lacy is leaving for Iraq this very Tuesday morning:

Hello Prayer Warriors! Please be in prayer for my sister Lacy as she is being deployed to Iraq on Tuesday. She reports to the base at 5 AM Monday morning. Her deployment is to be for 60 days. This past week Ted Nugent came to see them at the base. He told them that he is proud to be an American and thanked them for serving our country. For those of you who have not met her, she is the short one standing in front of him.

As Veteran's Day approaches, may we never forget those who have served. And every day, may we pray for those who are currently serving to preserve and protect our freedoms. And now for this well written and very convicting letter written by Ben Stein....

Ben Stein, Open Letter
02/02/2007

Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard, Reservists, in Iraq, in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan, in the area near Afghanistan, in any base anywhere in the world, and your families:

Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the backbone in the whole world right now and should be happy with yourselves and proud of whom you are.

It was a dazzlingly hot day here in Rancho Mirage today. I did small errands like going to the bank to pay my mortgage, finding a new bed at a price I can afford, practicing driving with my new 5 wood, paying bills for about two hours. I spoke for a long time to a woman who is going through a nasty child custody fight. I got e-mails from a woman who was fired today from her job for not paying attention. I read about multi-billion- dollar mergers in Europe, Asia, and the Mideast. I noticed how overweight I am, for the millionth time. In other words, I did a lot of nothing.

Like every other American who is not in the armed forces family, I basically just rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic in my trivial, self-important, meaningless way.

Above all, I talked to a friend of more than forty-three years who told me he thought his life had no meaning because all he did was count his money. And, friends in the armed forces, this is the story of all of America today. We are doing nothing but treading water while you guys carry on the life or death struggle against worldwide militant Islamic terrorism. Our lives are about nothing: paying bills, going to humdrum jobs, waiting until we can go to sleep and then do it all again. Our most vivid issues are trivia compared with what you do every day, every minute, every second.

Oprah Winfrey talks a lot about "meaning" in life For her, "meaning" is dieting and then having her photo on the cover of her magazine every single month (surely a new world record for egomania). This is not "meaning."

Meaning is doing for others.

Meaning is risking your life for hers.

Meaning is putting your bodies and families' peace of mind on the line to defeat some of the most evil, sick killers the world has ever known.

Meaning is leaving the comfort of home to fight to make sure that there still will be a home for your family and for your nation and for free men and women everywhere.

Look, soldiers and Marines and sailors and airmen and Coast Guardsmen, there are six billion people in this world. The whole fate of this world turns on what you people, 1.4 million, more or less, do every day. The fate of mankind depends on what about 2/100 of one percent of the people in this world do every day and you are those people. And joining you is every policeman, fireman, and Emergency Medical Technician in the country, also holding back the tide of chaos.

Do you know how important you are? Do you know how indispensable you are? Do you know how humbly grateful any of us who has a head on his shoulders is to you? Do you know that if you never do another thing in your lives, you will always still be heroes? That we could live without Hollywood or Wall Street or the NFL, but we cannot live for a week without you?

We are on our knees to you and we bless and pray for you every moment.
And Oprah Winfrey, if she were a size two, would not have one millionth of your importance, and all of the Wall Street billionaires will never mean what the least of you do, and if Barry Bonds hits hundreds of home runs it would not mean as much as you going on one patrol or driving one truck to the Baghdad airport.

You are everything to us, as we go through our little days, and you are in the prayers of the nation and of every decent man and woman on the planet. That's who you are and what you mean. I hope you know that.

Love,
Ben Stein