Tag: iraq

Death The Final Frontier

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Death The Final Frontier

It will come for us all. The race will end and then the beginning is new. Death comes for everyone, man, women, child, but through the multitudes only a few will enter the gates of heaven. Several verses particularly talk about heaven.

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Let the waters of Christ wash away your sins. Be reborn in the waters and give your struggles to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:9 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,” We all will make mistakes, but in our mistakes, in our sins, we can find forgiveness. We can trust in the Lord if we can give ourselves to the lord and leave the lusts of the world behind.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Daniel 12:2-3 “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Psalm 23:4 “4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

 We don’t know what our future holds. We don’t know when the living life as we know it will pass into the past. The life we live has a finite amount of days to it. We love people, we loose them, and sadly there isn’t anything we can do to change that. Recently I lost a family member that was very dear to my heart. His passing was a bit of a surprise albeit he had some health issues. The pain doesn’t go away or diminish just because they were sick. What we have done, we’ve done, the time will come when we have to answer for our actions. God never asks anything in return except our hearts. God wants us to turn away from the world and focus on Him. The Valley of Death is a scary place. As I have seen death, seen it so up close, of watching my friends die in front of me, watching family wither away and die, and myself nearly dying on more then one occasion. What I have found is death isn’t something to fear. We may never know our time or our importance on this little floating ball in this big ol’ universe, but what we do know is if we have what it takes to make it through that narrow gate, then we too will know peace. If death comes for us know that it’s your divine time to go home. As my uncle’s body returns to the ash from whence it came, peace comes knowing beyond a doubt he made it home. True peace knows that it’s not the depths of the oceans, the expanses of space that are the Final Frontier; it’s the Kingdom of heaven. Do not suffer in loss but rejoice in it. Have faith in the word, and when your time comes, you too will welcome death as an old friend.

The Strongest

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The Strongest

Living day to day is never for the weak. The ability to fight the fight is something that takes time and effort, and a lot of faith. As the strongest are often the ones who take the brunt of the fighting, we must remember that the war is not that of flesh and blood but of principalities, the spiritual plane, the fight for our very souls. We may never fully understand how lucky we are, but if we understand nothing else, we must know God is for us. We may fall and fail our fellow man, and fail ourselves, but in the words of Thomas Wayne “Why do we fall, so we can learn to pick ourselves up.” It’s okay to get knocked down, just always fight to stand again. Be vigilant against the whiles of the Devil. He will sneak and lie, whisper, and deceive to achieve his goal. The great deceiver is always on the hunt to find a chink in the armor. Defend yourself.

Finding Courage

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Finding Courage

“It takes courage to look inside yourself and even more courage to write it for other people to see.” Benjamin Sisko. I hadn’t really thought about it before, what making a public website would actually mean, what putting my deepest most intimate thoughts on paper in one blog after another for all the world to see, would actually mean. September 12th of 2004 my truck was ambushed in the downtown region of Ar-Ramadi Iraq. During the 15 minutes of absolute Hades on earth the courage of 7 men would be tested literally under fire. After the first two explosions obscured HQ 25 the first bullet hit my truck HQ 26 on the door right at head level. At that point the feelings of fear and doubt started to creep in. The bullets from the enemy AK’s where striking the truck. One RPG after another was being fired at both of the trucks. An RPG that passed just a few feet from the front of the truck, and hit a barrier near the truck blew out the front right tire of HQ 26. If the truck stops we’re all dead. If we don’t keep up with HQ 25 and were separated we all die. When the MK-19 failed and my gunner Haley had to switch over to his M-16 rifle. With no side shielding he would be completely exposed to enemy fire. The amount of courage he would show under extreme stress was nothing short of a miracle, in fact the courage of Stevens, and Watson the HQ 25 gunner/driver would stand out as heroes. What does it take for a person to show courage? “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” (Nelson Mandela) Many people in their lives are faced with incidences that will test their fight or flight response. For me September of 2016 would test my fight or flight response again. This time, for the first time my flight response would kick in, and alter my life forever. Living it seems is not for the weak. If it weren’t for close calls some people never fully realize their potential, the gift of life. 1 Chronicles 28:20 “David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.” True Courage cannot be had without faith. We must have faith that the situation we find ourselves in is worth courage. Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” When Haley stood up and shot back the faith he would have that the need to survive, to save the lives of his crewman would win out over fear. For me my faith that God was in control is unrelenting. True courage however might be as simple as truly trusting in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” When we give our lives to the Lord we put our faith in Him that we will never be alone. Sometimes God has a plan for us that take us out of our comfort zone. It takes a great deal of courage to follow God. No matter the cost, to have faith, is to have courage, and that courage is the key to everlasting life.