Serving Our Country

I drive in my car today and watch the sun dance across my windshield. It is cold outside, and the extra warmth from the light feels good. I am on my way home from a special presentation by some military people on Veteran’s Day. I am so thankful for life in a free country. I heard some interesting information.  One surprising fact was that only one percent of the population in our country has direct experience with the military. This creates a gap in community understanding.

Used to be a person served a tour and then was back home, but now our military men and women are serving, coming home, and then going out over and over again. This greatly increases the incidence of PTSD. It is so difficult to go through the actual experience of war, the killing, the destruction, even just the noise and chaos of it all. Then to come back to a country and circumstance that is so vastly different, sometimes creates a void and a loneliness, for the person who has lived on the edge, and is now trying to adjust to a “normal routine.”

Dear God thank you for the brave men and women who serve our country. Please be with them and their families. Please open our eyes and fill our hearts with gratitude. Please heal the scars of war, and guide all men towards peace.

Luke 9:24   For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

Linda Cumbie