There’s honor in fighting, assuming the situation calls for it and the fighting is fair. So today, remembering our veterans isn’t asking much, considering all they’ve been and, for that matter, where they’ve been. My hat tips this morning, while my heart says “thank you and thank God for you” to our Vets. Today’s the day for reflections on both the nobility of sacrifice and the misery warfare brings.
Not that I know, not really. Scratch that – not at all. I’m one of those who never served in the military, and to this day I don’t know how to feel about that. When I was 18 (1973) we still had the draft and the lottery system, under which you were randomly assigned a number and, the lower your number on the lottery scale, the higher your chance of being shipped off to Viet Nam. It was a hugely unpopular war, polarizing the country and striking understandable dread in the hearts of young men who were largely unsure of our reasons for being there, much less of their chances of coming home alive and whole. Still, we went, first to the draft board offices, then to the local lottery center, and then, depending on the results, back to school, home or war.
My number came up low, way low. I was dubbed Meat for the Viet Nam Grinder, which I may well have been had I not also been, believe it or not, ordained.
I know. Eighteen! Reverend Green Teen, eighteen years old, brimming with such accumulated wisdom and life experience, not to mention extensive study and reflection, obviously groomed and prepared for ministerial service. OK, I ask for no breaks; I deserve that eye-roll you just did. But it was the times, at least in Southern California, when we kids of the Jesus People Movement thought He was coming back no later than Tuesday, probably before lunch. So ministries sprang up; people dropped everything to serve full time; marriages were jumped into. Everything happened quickly, sometimes for the better (ever hear of Greg Laurie?) and sometimes not. Bottom line: I stayed home with a ministerial deferral, so military battle has always been foreign to me.
Not that I’m one to run away from fights. I was challenged twice during my school years to an afterschool showdown. I showed; my challengers didn’t. Then there were a couple drunken brawls during my backslidden years, which we’ll skip. Other than that, my resume doesn’t include much literal fighting. And for that I’m essentially glad.
But the act of taking up arms to defend – I almost said Your Country, but I’d rather say, The people within your country, most of whom will always be strangers to you, yet for whom you are putting your life on the line – that’s something I’ll never know. That’s real fighting, unlike boyish afterschool punch-outs or the silliness of a barroom tiff. It’s deadly serious and sacrificial, in that it’s fighting not just for yourself but for citizens who’ll benefit from your courage without knowing who to thank. Millions of men and women have experienced it. Those who survived carry their scars.
That much I understand, because my own recently deceased step-father was awarded the Silver Star (the third highest decoration for valor anyone in any branch can be awarded) for his World War II heroism as a Flight Deck Officer aboard the carrier ship Saratoga, which was attacked by Japanese kamikazes. He supervised the evacuation and rescue of the wounded, never bragging, always reluctant to discuss it. In fact, he only spoke to me about it in detail shortly before he died. Even then, it was the pain on his face that expressed the nightmare more vividly than his verbal account. War is hell, and you don’t have to go to hell to know it’s indescribable.
So today I’m sorry war happens, I’m grateful to the Vets who met its challenges, and full of hate for the sin nature that causes conflicts, which in turn case skirmishes, which in turn cause death. And I’m hopeful this morning that His appearance, which we expected decades ago is, by virtue of those decades passing, that much nearer.
God bless our Veterans, hugely, today and always. And come quickly, Lord Jesus, our Mighty Conqueror and Prince of Peace.
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