It was about 8 years ago in late summer 2006 and I remeber the day so clearly. My family and I were sitting in the Grand Rapids, MI Intl. airport; we were trying to make small talk and keep the conversations light because we knew the inevitable that was coming. And then it happened. My brothers’ plane was called. They stayed back as long as they could, but they eventually had to board and leave. My parents, my grandparents, my sister and I were all left standing there without a clue of what to even think let alone what to say to each other. My two brothers were headed to California and straight from there Germany, Kuwait, then Fallujah, Iraq.
Fallujah was the most dangerous place to be in the war at the time, especially for the Marines. You can imagine this wasn’t very comforting for us. My two brothers were heading into a very hostel war zone and there was nothing we could do to physically keep them safe, we could only rely on the grace of God.
Our trust and faith in The Lord were truly put on trial during that year in countless ways, which included more than enough times when we didn’t know if they were going to come home walking or in a casket. When the year was finally up however, my brothers were out of Iraq and back at home in Michigan with us.
It was very apparent Christ had his hand on all of us from the very start of that journey, and even more apparent that he is still working through that experience as a way of preparation for my upcoming journey. When I first signed up for The Race it was (and still is) a scary thing for my parents (especially since I’m the youngest in the family); but my Mother put it very plainly: “She’s not going into a blatant war zone with people shooting at her day in and day out, she’s going to do the work of Christ.”
All I can say is WOW, God took a struggle my family went through 8 years ago and turned it into a thread of comfort for the days to come. How cool is that?! Now I can’t wait to see how else He has been preparing not only me and my family for this, but also my teammates and their families!
