You're in the army now...

Dad never aspired to be in the army but ROTC paid a stipend to help him get through college, so he joined up. In his heart, he was always a man of peace but when WW2 broke out, he accepted his position and served well. He hated the fact that he got a medal for killing another person, even if it was to save many more. He actually misted up when he told me about it. "I looked him right in the eyes and pulled the trigger, at the same time he did. I just ended up to be a little faster."  He never took lightly that he had taken a son from another family, even though it was an enemy, and even though  he saved his whole platoon from a sniper that day. He was a reluctant hero, at best!
         He also had journals that he kept listing every man under his command that was killed, wounded, or ended up missing. He carefully noted the name, rank, date, and the location.  He felt a responsibility for each one and didn't want a single one to go unremembered or a family to wonder. He never took for granted that he made it back when so many didn't.
       Years later on a visit to Punchbowl Hill, Dad took me to the mosaic wall of battles and showed me where he had been and when. He talked about troop movements and campaigns, most of which I didn't really want to know, but I listened intently just the same. It was like reliving it in a way for him, like it had just happened. As we were talking, a group of Japanese teens came over and started making fun of the war and the memorial. I had never seen Dad get that mad. He blasted their insensitivity with words they probably didn't understand, and if the security guard hadn't intervened, I think he would have physically tried to throw them out!  He took it all very seriously, as most veterans do, and his patriotism was intrinsically wound into who he was.
       Experiences are like that.  Our experiences mold us and shape us, determining in large part who we are and how we look at things.  They can make us better or bitter, as the saying goes. One of my life verses is 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." When I was going through the darkest time of life, this was the verse God gave me - it's not just about me. We can become victims, crying and cringing because life isn't fair, or we can learn from our seasons of struggle and pass the lessons on to others who need them! Romans 8:28 says,"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Everything that happens in our lives is not good. We live in a fallen world and bad things certainly happen to the best people. But if we are willing to use those bad things and the lessons we learn from them to help others then God gets glory as we show how He helped and sustained us through it all, and we get blessed by doing His will. 
       Long after Dad's stint in the U.S. army was finished, he was still an "enlisted man" serving in the army of his God.  He's retired now and has entered his permanent R & R, but we who are still here have a job to continue, an enemy's forces to still contend with.  The war's been won thanks to what Jesus did; but we have the mopping up to do. So let's get busy and do it because... You're in the army now too!