For those of you that know me well enough, you know that I can sometimes get on tangents and soap boxes about pointless topics in which my personal opinions are pretty much meaningless. I used to think that I had all these grand opinions and could make perfect arguements, but the more I hear myself talk about them, the more I realize they don’t really matter. Either that, or God opens my eyes to the other side and then I’m stuck. I say all that because most of my friends know where I stand on the war. I’ve never been in agreement with it and I have tons of reasons why, but every now and then God brings my arguements to life and things change. Here’s what I mean…
I met Adam this weekend at a going away party. In the next several weeks (one of those “if I told you the exact date, I’d have to kill you” sort of things…) he will be deployed to the war and will be off to serve our country. Not too long after, his mother-in-law and sister-in-law will be right behind him. On top of all of this, Adam and his wife just had a baby boy a few months ago, so he will be missing out on a lot. With my brother just having a baby girl, I understand all that you can miss in the first year, and I can’t imagine that as a daddy. Nevertheless, he has heard the call to serve this country and has answered it.
I can honestly say that I have only really prayed for a soldier and gotten close enough to one a few years ago when my cousin was deployed, but since then I have kept my distance from the war. However, when I first met Adam, I was immediately touched and moved to pray for him. I saw him again this morning in church and just had to fight back the tears as I felt such a strong urge to intercede for him. I don’t know how someone could make this move at this time of life, but he seems confident about it and it’s time to go. Now it’s time to surround this man and his family and pray for them through this transition. Even as I put my hand on his shoulder to pray, I realized I wasn’t praying for a soldier, but a brother.
I could just feel God’s heart for Adam and his family as I walked up to him to encourage and pray for him. I’ve been all over the world praying for and encouraging people, but this time felt personal. Even though I don’t really know him and I don’t know exactly where he’s headed or what will come next for his family, specifically his wife and little boy, I feel excited to stand beside him. The best news is that they have an incredible community surrounding them and standing beside them. We just pray God brings him back safely and protects his heart and mind as he heads into a hostile area. Literally. God, please keep him and bring him home…
