Your Service Is Needed Again!

         I've wanted to broach this subject for quite some time but it was always a little bit too daunting to attempt it. It has to do with American military veterans who served with distinction in any of the various wars our country has been involved in but particularly Vietnam. I have written about them often in these posts of six years. Just today my wife was at a baby shower and the young husband was there. I told her to make sure that she told him that I said 'thank-you for your service!" I had sent him a package of books while he was in Iraq. These men are some of the creme de la creme of American youth as our Vietnam heroes were of ours. There should be no doubt of my appreciation to all of our veterans from all wars, but when they get to be thirty-forty-fifty-sixty years old I hope that they still have it in them to enlist or show up at that draft board one more time, for we need men like that today in a different type of battle, a different war zone. There are no parades for these men, no medals and no honor as being courageous. They are the God fearing men who know that our country is in the process of being overthrown and have shown up for a second time in defense of it.
         There are no incoming rockets in this war, no firefights, no surface to air missiles seeking out the aircraft they are piloting. The dangers are less physical and more subtle. Embarrassment, discouragement, failure and ridicule are some of the things most often faced. These same men who waded through rice paddies with an M-16 on their shoulder do not have as clear a picture of the service that their country needs of them today. In reality, war has never ended, it just changed battlefields, changed enemies, changed uniforms and changed weaponry, but the essentials of war are still there, the nation is reeling from enemy attacks from within and without.
         To these men I would say this: where once you had to learn the M-16 inside and out, today you have to learn the Constitution. Whereas you once had an assignment given to you, today you have to figure out yourself where you are needed most. To the Vietnam veteran, I know what you came home to.... often a cold shoulder, often ignored, often even ridiculed. It will not be too dissimilar today. It's once again not a popular struggle. Many if not most people don't even know that there is an enemy out there not to mention one one real close by. Once again you are called upon to sacrifice time and comfort while many of your friends go on with their lives oblivious to the dangers to their nation.
         To the Christian, you should already know that serving Christ is being a soldier in His army. Only this time you should never experience lingering doubts as to why you are there, no second guessing whether the critics might be right. And there is also no doubt that the victory is not only certain, it is already accomplished. You have your sword and you shield, your helmet and your armour, and a king that has never lost a battle and will never lose a battle. Not only is the Christian soldier needed to proclaim the Gospel, they are needed to ensure that the priorities are in giving praise and allegiance to Jesus Christ and not merely to freedom and liberty however noble they may be. They are the vanguard with which all of the other armies are useless unless they realize this.
         So to these men who have shown up a second time, I thank-you once again for your service, and may God give you the strength needed, for much will be required.