[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Friday, June 6, 2014

[Paul]

Hello and good day to you all once again.  Here in North America as I write this, it's in the late afternoon.  However I know that, in different parts of the world it's evening or, for you in Australia and Kiwi Country, it's already Saturday morning.  Whatever your plans are for the weekend, I hope that you will give a thought to our wonderful Savior and Lord during those times other than when one goes to one's respective house of worship on Sunday.

Karen Barber of Alpharetta, Georgia USA contributes today's story entitled "A Mother's Mission," rendered as follows:

I woke up that day like every day--anxious to hear from my 25-year-old son Chris.  It wasn't just that he was serving in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division Task Force 1-319th out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.  He was a captain of a platoon nicknamed the Red Bulls that was fighting the insurgency in the volatile area around Tikrit.  Between what I saw on TV and what Chris told me in his emails, I was worried sick.  The army family support group suggested that parents sound upbeat and positive in our emails to our soldiers, so I tried not to show him how scared I was.  It wasn't easy.  Chris's first email home told about training in temperatures near 140 degrees.  Another told how a bullet had whizzed through his tent 10 feet from where he was sitting.  Still I was relieved to get emails, since that meant he was okay.  Every day I begged the Lord to watch over Chris and the 35 guys in his platoon.  I prayed as hard as I've ever prayed.  But after I said amen, an empty feeling came over me.  There just had to be something more I could do.

There was a message from Chris waiting for me when I checked my email that morning.  "Mom, I wonder if you could help me.  I pray with my guys before every mission, but I'm running out of things to say.  Could you email me some good prayers?" I stared at the screen in astonishment.  My son didn't talk much about religion.  And here he was asking me to send him prayers.  At last, something useful I could do! I'd written a book about answered prayers and was filming a video series, teaching people how to pray.  This is going to be easy.  My fingers rested on the keyboard as I tried to think of a prayer.  Nothing came.  Not as simple as I thought.

These prayers had to be special.  They'd be heard by the other soldiers.  The words needed to rally them.  When you pray alone, the words don't matter that much.  It's the connection felt with God.  But these guys needed something that could inspire them, something prayerful that would connect them to each other, too.

I got up and scrounged through my files for prayers I'd collected.  No, that one won't work, I thought, reading each, then tossing them aside.  I searched my bookshelves.  As a last resort, I grabbed a hymnal.  I turned page after page, finally copying the last stanza of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" into an email.  I sent it to Chris.  I felt sad and farther away than ever.  I couldn't even help Chris with his simple request.

I was really down the next day while driving to an appointment.  I felt like I was going two miles an hour.  Then I got a glimmer of an inspiration.  Maybe my friend Cathy knows some good prayers.  At the next stoplight, the idea got a little bigger.  Maybe I could send an email to my friends for prayers.  At the next intersection, the idea got way out of control.  Maybe I could have a website where people could post prayers, and soldiers anywhere, anytime, could log on and use them.  My other son Jeff had designed a mountain-biking website--he could help me.  When I got home, I emailed Jeff.  He liked the idea and said it would take about half a day to set up a website.  I emailed Chris.  His response was immediate:  "Can't wait!"

Jeff had our website, militaryprayers.org, up the next day.  I sent an email to everybody in my address book, inviting them to share prayers and tell their friends.  People from all over the country posted prayers and inspirational thoughts.  They shared short passages from the Bible, old church prayer books, and even wrote their own prayers.  Chris and his guys could log onto the website anytime.  Chris was ecstatic.  "The site looks great, Mom! The guys are excited.  Thanks! Keep up the prayers.  They're working."

One prayer I received from a military retiree really touched me.  I sent it to Chris:  "More than ever I feel the need of having You close to me.  At any moment, I may find myself in battle.  However, rigorous the task that awaits me, may I fulfill my duty with courage.  I know You are beside me.  Amen."

Chris responded.  "We're into a lot of big missions.  Should be crazy.  This prayer is perfect.  Thanks." Big missions? Should be crazy? The worry started to bubble up inside of me, eating away at me like a poison.  What if something terrible happens? What if Chris is hurt or captured? Then I remembered my big mission.  I logged onto the website.  A whole community of wonderful, caring people were there for me.  As I read each prayer, a calm came over me.  Prayer was the antidote to the poison of fear and worry.  I folded my hands over the keyboard and prayed that prayer, "Now more than ever I feel the need of having You close to me." Chris would be saying those words at possibly that same moment.  There was power in that.  And peace.

And there you have Karen's article which I hope was a blessing to you.

If you have a son or daughter, another relative or friend in the military, just log onto
http://www.militaryprayers.org.
If you like what you see, why not pass that info along to other families who have people they know in the armed forces of your respective countries serving now in Afghanistan or wherever military help is needed.  They will thank you, and God will bless you for your efforts.

And this concludes the Daily Thought for today.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be another one.  May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us and our armed forces safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul