CONTEMPLATIONS

Last night as I lay in bed trying to go to sleep, the frequent popping of firecracker's and the occasional loud boom of a much larger explosives kept me awake.
Around midnight, I was becoming a bit grouchy and after taking a 'mental walk' down the road to let the neighbors know that the fourth of July was past, it was now the fifth and they should save the remainder of their fireworks for New Year's, I calmed down and began to do some serious thinking.

I thought of our brave men and women in the battle field. I imagined that they too must have a difficult time sleeping with all the artillery fire around them. It probably sounds much like what we hear on the 4th. Even the shouts, although we hear shouts of awe and enjoyment, they hear shouts of fear and pain and even death.
I wondered if the sounds remind them of their fourth of July celebrations. I could visualize a young man contemplating this, remembering the flag he waved and the sparklers he held in his little boy hands, as he watched the parade and looked forward to the hot dogs and ice cream.

As I turned to my side I became aware of my soft, warm bed, and thought of the hard, sandy place that my imaginary soldier was resting his weary body.
My fluffy pillow became his hard helmet, and the cold glass of water I sipped before I went to bed, made me think of his dusty, dry mouth with sand grinding between his teeth. I saw his sunburned and cracked lips, as his tongue tried hopelessly to moisten them.
And I saw the longing in his eyes. Longing for home and family, but I also saw something else. I saw determination and and fierce desire for justice. He isn't playing a game. He made a decision to lay his life on the line if need be, so others can have freedom that we, as a nation have known, enjoyed and even taken for granted. We can't honor or respect him enough.

One war fought does not grant us freedom forever. Every generation must continue to stand firm for the freedom we so love, and want it bad enough to fight for it. If we stop, we have lost it all. From the very first, every war will have been for naught. For it was for Freedom that our forefathers fought so bravely.

If you are praying for our troops, good. Pray more fervently.
If you are praying for our country's leaders, good. Pray more often.
If you are praying for America to be strengthened, good. It begins with you and me.
If you don't believe in God or prayer, why on earth are you reading my blog ?
I hope you learned something.

"PRECIOUS HEAVENLY FATHER BE WITH ALL OF OUR BRAVE TROOPS, COMFORT THEM AND RETURN THEM TO THE ARMS OF THEIR LOVED ONES SAFELY, IN JESUS NAME, AMEN"

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