This passage sounds eerily like modern day
war, weather, and basic humanity crying out to a higher power...Listen to the
words of David, the shepherd, soldier, and eventually king, from Psalm 144.
Praise be to the LORD my
Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle. 2 He
is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.
3 O LORD, what is man that
you care for him,
the son of man that you think of him?
4 Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow.
5 Part your heavens, O
LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
6 Send forth
lightning and scatter the enemies;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down your hand from
on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners
8 whose mouths are full of
lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
9 I will sing a new song to
you, O God;
on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,
10 to the One who gives
victory to kings,
who delivers his servant David from the deadly sword.
11 Deliver me and
rescue me
from the hands of foreigners
whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
12 Then our sons in their
youth
will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
carved to adorn a palace.
13 Our barns will be
filled
with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
by tens of thousands in our fields;
14 our oxen will draw heavy
loads.
There will be no breaching of walls,
no going into captivity,
no cry of distress in our streets.
15 Blessed are the people
of whom this is true;
blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Last year when I started my Christmas letter I
was just going to do one of my infamous lists. What we did and what happened
during the year to make us laugh, cry, smile, pray, etc. I had started to list
my favorite movies, songs, celebrities and heros when I read about Pat Tillman.
He was an NFL football player that volunteered and was eventually killed in the
line of duty in Iraq. Not that "The One" campaign isn't a good thing, but
sitting in a million dollar mansion and deciding that everyone needs to get on
the bandwagon for something is not my idea of a hero. Pat Tillman is. And I
don't want to step on anyone's toes here either, but I know a ton of
college kids people, myself included, that get frustrated with
life decisions, the system, roommates, money, churches, bosses, etc. Don't.
Look at it from another perspective. I knew of Jake Dickerson, a friend of
Jennifer's from high school that served in Iraq, maybe still is. But today the
war gets closer to home as Wiseman's, Dustin makes his way there for his tour of
duty. God Bless you Dustin (and Jake) and thank you Pat Tillman.