Letters from War...

Today was Red White and Blue Sunday complete with chicken BBQ. The church was decorated with red white and blue streamers, balloons and other patriotic decorations. It was planned as a way to honor soldiers who are deploying and as a way to gear up for the next bunch of guys coming in. It's amazing how easy it is to overlook these brave men and women who truly and selflessly give their lives very often for people they may never see or meet.

Regardless of what you may think about these people when they are in their everyday civilian lives or even what your opinion is of the war, the bottom line is that they are people who have given their lives. They go places they don't want to go, do things that people should not have to do for long periods of time and yet there are people who have the audacity to complain??

I am glad I came here to this church and this military saturated area. It has opened my eyes in ways about things that have never crossed my mind because of being so far removed from it. It has also given me what I imagine and hope to be the beginning of a lifetime of appreciation and an infinite gratitude for these men and women....the REAL heros of today!

The lyrics below are from a song that my Pastor played today to bring home the message a little bit more. Because the reality is...unless you live it , you will never understand all that is demanded of these brave men and women and the families and loved ones they leave behind when they go to fight. PLEASE if you cross paths with a soldier, fireman, police officer...please please please thank them for their dedication to our safety and freedom!

Artist: Mark Schultz Song: Letters From War
She runs to the mailbox
On that bright summers day
Found a letter from her son
In a war far away
He spoke of the weather
And good friends that he'd made
Said I'd been thinking 'bout dad
And the life that he had
Thats why I'm here today
And that the end he said
You are what I'm fighting for
It was the first of the letters from war
She started writing

(Chorus)
You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
Bring him home
Bring him safe

She wrote everynight as she prayed
Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Oh her tears stained the paper
With every word that she read
It said I was up on a hill
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out
And bombs were exploding
And thats when I saw him
He came back to me
And though he was captured
A man set me free
And that man was your son
He asked me to write to you
I told him i would oh I swore
It was the last of the letters from war
And she prayed he was living
Kept on believing and wrote every night just to say

(Chorus)
You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
Bring him home
Bring him safe

Then two years later
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway
And she fell to the ground
And out stepped a captain
Where her boy used to stand
Said mom I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I've come home again
He ran into hold her
And dropped all his bags on the floor
Holding all of her letters from war

Bring him home
Bring him home
Bring him home