"On Veteran's Day 2014"

On this day all freedom loving Americans pause to honor our military men and women for their bravery and heroism in service to our country. Having served four years in the US Navy, I consider myself to be one of those freedom loving Americans, but have never thought of myself as any kind of hero. To me those men and women who are in the thick of the battle right now and those who have returned from battle with life-long physical and mental wounds are the heroes. And they more than deserve all the ways a grateful nation can honor their service and sacrifice.

After spending the first year of my enlistment aboard ship, the Navy sent me to an electronics training center near Washington, D.C. Those eight months were a wonderful education for this country boy from rural west Kentucky. I was fortunate to spend many weekends wandering around the monuments and museums of our nation's capitol and feel the power of that great city and all that has gone on there since the Civil War. As much as I truly was awed by the Capitol Rotunda, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institute etc. nothing was more inspiring to me than Arlington National Cemetery. Since I was a young teen I have been interested in visiting old cemeteries just to ponder what I learned about people I never knew. In fact, I have visited most of the Civil War battlefields and cemeteries to try and get a sense of the enormity of that senseless struggle where thousands of men lined up facing each other at close range and shot their own countrymen.

The war continues except today there is no mandatory draft or involuntary conscription into service but all kinds of brave men and women actually willingly put their lives on the line to preserve what has been won at great cost. The last time I stood in the midst of those many thousands of reminders at Arlington National Cemetery I felt a sense of the presence that permeates much of Washington, D.C. Our nation's capitol is much, much more than the politicians who fight each other to win another election and the huge army of political lobbyists who go to great lengths to achieve often selfish goals for some special interest group. That's all part of the risk and process of democracy. And, it's never been very pretty, not even as our Constitution was being hammered out by a small group of men who fought over what they felt was right and good for the national future. But it all worked out!

Here is where my faith lies - "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him." Ps 115:3

Regardless of who sits in the Oval Office or in the Congress, the one constant presence is what pleases our real Father who is still and always committed to seeing HIS will done for the good of the human family.

So my prayer is this - God be with our military men and women who fight to keep freedom a possibility for all Americans and the entire human family. Be with our nations leaders and policy makers to see beyond personal ideals and realize that ultimately YOU control it all and the day will come when they must answer to YOU. HALLELUJAH!