photo by The US Army
A church friend of ours, deployed for his second tour of duty in Iraq, is home finishing up a fifteen-day furlough. He returns tomorrow, but we got to spend a little bit of time with him and his fiancée over lunch today. It was a relaxed affair over sandwiches, tortilla chips and salsa as we got caught up and shared stories and news.
Our family comes together in prayer almost every day over Chris, and we told him we’d continue doing so, asking God to place a bubble of protection over both him and his unit. My husband even joked that the other soldiers had better snuggle up real close to him to take full advantage of that protection.
I ran into Chris’ dad at church a couple of Sundays ago and shared how glad I was that Chris had been located in a fairly safe area of Iraq, since in all our Skype and Facebook conversations he hadn’t mentioned any danger. His dad, a veteran of Vietnam, quickly put things into perspective for me.
“That he’s willing to tell us about.”
During our get together Chris substantiated his dad’s statement. One day recently, before leaving on his furlough, while he was on Skype with his dad and fiancée, Chris heard and felt some strange noises.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
He wondered aloud what they were, and within a few minutes there came a knock on his barracks door. Setting his laptop down on his bunk to answer it, his dad and fiancée could see the whole thing play out through the webcam mounted on his computer. Chris’ demeanor noticeably changed as he received some kind of notification from the person at the door. He then quickly excused himself from his dad and fiancée and shut his computer off.
Four Iraqi missiles had landed in the middle of his camp. None of them had exploded. Personnel were being evacuated so the EOD unit could come in, disarm and safely remove them. Chris had not been willing to share that bit of news at the time, for obvious reasons.
Prayer is a powerful thing, but even more powerful is seeing God’s divine intervention play out in such a palpable way. As our children sat around the table listening to Chris share his story, there were knowing looks exchanged among us. Our prayers had been effective, God had been faithful. It was a potent lesson.
Pray with your children, but more importantly, share when God has responded. Watch your children’s faith grow as they see the magnificent omnipotence of God’s hand at work.
Our family comes together in prayer almost every day over Chris, and we told him we’d continue doing so, asking God to place a bubble of protection over both him and his unit. My husband even joked that the other soldiers had better snuggle up real close to him to take full advantage of that protection.
I ran into Chris’ dad at church a couple of Sundays ago and shared how glad I was that Chris had been located in a fairly safe area of Iraq, since in all our Skype and Facebook conversations he hadn’t mentioned any danger. His dad, a veteran of Vietnam, quickly put things into perspective for me.
“That he’s willing to tell us about.”
During our get together Chris substantiated his dad’s statement. One day recently, before leaving on his furlough, while he was on Skype with his dad and fiancée, Chris heard and felt some strange noises.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
He wondered aloud what they were, and within a few minutes there came a knock on his barracks door. Setting his laptop down on his bunk to answer it, his dad and fiancée could see the whole thing play out through the webcam mounted on his computer. Chris’ demeanor noticeably changed as he received some kind of notification from the person at the door. He then quickly excused himself from his dad and fiancée and shut his computer off.
Four Iraqi missiles had landed in the middle of his camp. None of them had exploded. Personnel were being evacuated so the EOD unit could come in, disarm and safely remove them. Chris had not been willing to share that bit of news at the time, for obvious reasons.
Prayer is a powerful thing, but even more powerful is seeing God’s divine intervention play out in such a palpable way. As our children sat around the table listening to Chris share his story, there were knowing looks exchanged among us. Our prayers had been effective, God had been faithful. It was a potent lesson.
Pray with your children, but more importantly, share when God has responded. Watch your children’s faith grow as they see the magnificent omnipotence of God’s hand at work.
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