To end all wars
War does not last forever. And I thank God for the walls and barriers that He has brought down through His all-powerful, un-resistible sword of forgiveness. Though this world is a broken one; ruled by anger, hate... and revenge, lives lived in a constant quest for revenge and war will one day be broken by the power that outdoes all; the power of grace. Not even an isolated war camp filled with animals of men can be "separated from the love of God." Romans 8:39
War is a terrible thing, and yet war is life. As I paused yesterday to take a different outlook on life by watching the movie "To End All Wars", I marveled at how many Americans (including myself) fall into the state of thinking that our lives are normal, and the lives led by martyrs are only things that happen in a few, isolated countries. We are so surrounded by our everyday comforts that even when we pause to observe the intense sufferings of others, the thoughts that we think and the images that we see are often forgotten too soon.
When I do watch war movies, read history books, or simply look at pictures of starved, beaten, demoralized war veterans, I long to reach out and let them know that war is not the end. I wish I could paint to them the smallest picture of the joy that their fallen buddies are experiencing with Christ. And I long to share with them the truth that will set them free, before it is too late.
War does not last forever. But until our Lord comes riding on a horse to take us home on that glorious day, I would encourage you, His warriors, to stand strong in the faith. Whether it be a spiritual battle or the physical battles being waged in the middle east, do not despair at darkness of evil or fall into the clutches of revenge; for our God reigns, and He will through you.
Jennifer
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21 comments:
you are very profound jennifer...I am impressed by you greatly
You are an excellent writer Jennifer! Great job!
YES!!!!!!!!!! Wow i think that was like an all time high. see i even started comments that tell you you are cool
what branch of the service are you enlisting in? or do you want to just glorify these soldiers as though they are mythical heros?
they're not. they are men. they are struggling. they are fighting a needless war. and many of them care mostly about getting home to their family and not really what you think god will do for them.
especially those soldiers that are not Christian.
join the military. or shut up about the glory of war.
Why the rage?
Anonymous, you are such a sourpuss, why don't you go away! I appreciate the refreshment of having someone with a different viewpoint, but you end up being so critical rather than stating your opinion with respect to those you are talking to. Grow Up!!
i am critical because the author is very naive.
and after speaking almost weekly to an infantry commander on the ground in Iraq, I know what he cares about....and that's bringing as many of his men home alive and uninjured.
last week, he lost 4. 3 in an IED attack, and 1 to suicide. he's not worried about some glory in the afterlife. he wants to come home and see his wife and son.
and if jennifer IS SO SURE that war is such a great thing, she should enlist in the military. there is a troop shortage. surely, she wants to do her part for the war. and her sister should enlist too.
see how her parents feel about sending their daughters off to die for this "cause"
I don't think that Jen is trying to "glorify" anything. Rather, she is simply reminding us not to take the people in the armed forces for granted.
Just because you think someone is naive doesn't mean you need to put all your thoughts into words. You don't need to say that or to criticize. Just merely state your opinion with thoughtfulness and helpfulness. It is possible to disagree in a polite and wise manner.
So, you don't think invading Iraq was the best way to deal with the terrorists - please tell us what would have been. They are a group of people who do not wear uniforms, do not belong to a certain nation, and attack our civilians in surprise as they are going about their daily lives. They have also sworn that their goal is our destruction and annihilation. How do we deal with this????
"They" were not in Iraq. That is the first problem. All we have done in Iraq is make MORE people in the Middle East hate us.
sure i should put my thoughts into words...she's here criticizing those that disagree with the war, abortion, whatever... that's what "the internet" is all about. freedom of expression, and freedom to disagree. if she doesn't like the comments, she can delete them.
I would rather just go to Heaven right now.
Annoyingamous-"if she doesn't like the comments, she can delete them."
Orrrrrrrrr, you could just stop polluting Jen's blog with your bitter comments and go away!!!! I LIKE that idea.
...see how her parents feel about sending their daughters off to die for this "cause."
I don't know about you, but if I had to choose between dying young for a cause and dying old having done nothing of worth in my life, I'd choose in a heartbeat.
"They" were not in Iraq. That is the first problem. All we have done in Iraq is make MORE people in the Middle East hate us.
Give me facts, not assertions. If you're going to state something, back it up.
FACT: We have removed Saddam Hussein from power, arguably one of the worst dictators in human history.
FACT: The aforementioned dictator murdered an estimated 600,000 people in Iraq during his 24-year reign. (http://wais.stanford.edu/Iraq/iraq
_deathsundersaddamhussein42503.html)
FACT: Saddam Hussein not only possessed, but used chemical weapons against his own people. (http://www.phrusa.org/research/che
mical_weapons/chemiraqgas2.html)
FACT: Beyond these other crimes, Saddam Hussein committed other heinous deeds beyond my patience or desire to outline now. (http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/2000/
09/iraq-000918.htm)
FACT: Terrorist training camps existed in Iraq, including one tailored to simulate transportation hijackings. (http://www.intelmessages.org/Messa
ges/National_Security/wwwboard/mess
ages/826.html)
Need I go on?
In any case, this discussion has gotten away from the point in Jennifer's original post. These people are serving their families and their God. Of course they want to come home and see their families. War is not something fun you do on weekends. But it is because they love their families and want to protect them that they realize they must go to war. Better to fight the enemy overseas than here in the streets of New York, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles.
oh yes, please go on...
I don't really give a damn what Saddam did in his own country to his own people. Is it wrong, yes... but if we policed every leader who harmed his own people, we'd be fighting wars in every nation of Africa. but we're not, because they don't have oil.
Read the 9/11 Report. You can buy it on Amazon.com
Iraq was not breeding terrorists until we showed up. and NOW there are thousands of Americans dead.
by the way...answer me this....
what are we doing there? when are we coming home? how much MORE money should we spend on a country like this?
meanwhile, we're selling our ports to the United Arab Emerates? but i guess that aspect doesn't bother you at all, right?
and my point is simply if Jennifer is SO PRO-WAR she should get off her farm and go fight it. otherwise, I'll listen to those who already have. And most Iraqi veterans i know are ready to come home.
Oh, and by the way:
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view
.php?StoryID=20060228-011555-2699r
Well said, Soldier of One. Bravo!
But I would emphasize more that our reasons there are because of his links with Al Quada. I agree with Anonymous that we can't police the whole world, even though I care very much what happens to the rest of the world. But we had to go where the roots of terrorism were, and there were several choices, but we chose Iraq as the most dangerous or needful at the time. I have believed all along that our key purpose is to have victory over the terrorists who have declared war on us, even though our spokesmen don't always verbalize that very well.
We chose Iraq because we thought we could win the quickest. If we had any REAL concern about terrorists we would have gone to Iran (who DOES have WMDs and IS threatening the region) or Saudi Arabia (the birthplace of the 9/11 hijackers and al-quaeda).
Anyway, here's what a soldier thinks of the current war:
http://www.dailykos.com/
story/2006/2/28/121245/538"
I don't really give a damn what Saddam did in his own country to his own people. Is it wrong, yes... but if we policed every leader who harmed his own people, we'd be fighting wars in every nation of Africa. but we're not, because they don't have oil.
I'm certainly glad I don't depend on your compassion for my welfare. Like I said before, quit making groundless assertions. If you say every nation in Africa has a leader who harms his own people, BACK IT UP.
I'm not saying we can or should be the world's police force. But you said that ...All we have done in Iraq is make MORE people in the Middle East hate us. I was pointing out to you that we have done far more than that.
Iraq was not breeding terrorists until we showed up.
Back it up. I gave you a source that showed that Iraq WAS breeding terrorists. You have yet to show that they were not.
what are we doing there? when are we coming home? how much MORE money should we spend on a country like this?
I honestly don't know. I would like to see our troops come home just as much as you, but not at the cost of losing the chance of a free Iraq. If we pulled out and Iraq slipped back into a terrorist state, all our work would be for vain.
meanwhile, we're selling our ports to the United Arab Emerates? but i guess that aspect doesn't bother you at all, right?
That has absolutely nothing to do with the Iraq war, but as a matter of fact, that bothers me a lot. I am actually against this port deal. I would just as soon not sell our ports to other countries.
and my point is simply if Jennifer is SO PRO-WAR she should get off her farm and go fight it.
Good men volunteer so that she doesn't have to.
I am unimpressed by one interview with one solder who is against the war. I am also unimpressed by a poll stating that 70% of American troops want to come home. Of course they do. I just said that I would like to see them come home too. But not at the cost of the mission. If the pollers rephrased the question to ask if the soldiers wished to come home even if it meant the failure of the mission, I suspect you would see quite different numbers. You certainly do with the American people.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933
,101722,00.html
Read the 9/11 Report. It is published, in full, available at Amazon or any library or bookstore. learn something.
"the chance of losing a free Iraq"
are you kidding? you believe we are accomplishing anything over there?
my cousin is an infantry company commander, and a west point graduate who lost 3 men to an IED attack on a Bradley this weekend in Balad. I have spoken and heard from him at lenght about the daily ongoings of the war and receive regular emails. There is no purpose other than killing people. that's what he's said repeatedly. I have multiple friends that served in the NY National Guard infantry unit. Not one of them isn't scarred with PTSD, and many are broke, unemployed, and depressed. None of them have reenlisted or will reenlist. They are counting their days until they are out. When asked about hte war....they DO NOT CARE about Iraq.
Your President is a joke. A total utter joke. A "war president" that doesn't know how to run a war, and hes' just wasting young families lives.
Women serve in every unit, MPs/Aviation/Translators. Tell Jennifer to go out and enlist. And until she does, she has no reality to discuss and her opinion is nothing more than glorification of some "noble" cause which no one really belives in.
Go join up, go to bootcamp, blog about how awesome it is.
*laughing at anonymous being whipped by Soldier of One*
*entering fray*
"Read the 9/11 Report. It is published, in full, available at Amazon or any library or bookstore. learn something. "
Yeah, thats sure based on sound logic. The 9/11 report was commisioned to study why the attacks happened, and what needs to change. It is not the 'be all, end all' textbook for the war on terror. We are not at war to avenge the past. Thats pretty damned pointless, and we have already accomplished that by shattering the strength of Al-Queda, and disenigrating the warlords that ran the taliban. We are now fighting in Iraq, both for the present and the future.
"are you kidding? you believe we are accomplishing anything over there? "
There's a saying, "The best defence is a good offence.", and we're taking the war to the terrorists home turf. Even if they aren't from Iraq, they are religios zealots, who think we're 'defiling' the land by being there. So what to they do? They hit our soldiers, the men and women who volunteered to serve this country, and if nessesary, bleed and die in it's service, protecting the civilians of the homeland. So thats what they're doing, and thats what Bush is doing. Rather then sit back and wait to be kicked in the teeth again, we're taking the fight to where the enemies will gather.
Secondly, the seed of freedom is growing rapidly in Iraq and Afganistan. And where freedom goes, the despair that leads to the weapons of terror disapears, because you can make your own desicions and create a life for yourself.
"Your President is a joke. A total utter joke. A "war president" that doesn't know how to run a war, and hes' just wasting young families lives."
Ya know what? He shouldn't be running the war, the generals should, and the department of defence. You know why we left vietnam? Somalia? Because the politicans, and the weak spinned presidents ran the war from the oval office. Bush is letting the people that are trained handle the job.
"Women serve in every unit, MPs/Aviation/Translators. Tell Jennifer to go out and enlist. And until she does, she has no reality to discuss and her opinion is nothing more than glorification of some "noble" cause which no one really belives in.
Go join up, go to bootcamp, blog about how awesome it is."
Yeah. May I inquire what branch you serve in? As for noble cause, I have talked to some guys who came back from Iraq, during the summer last year. They were truck drivers, carring fuel across the nation. They said they planned to go back as soon as possible, because they thought it was the right thing to do.
Yeah, keep talking to those veterans. Truck drivers, civil affairs, talk to all of them. You should also talk to some of the infantry commanders serving on the ground...see how many of them believe in what we're doing. i know, i talk to lots of them.
And really, Jen should totally enlist...she believes in this fight and this war more than anyone i know that's currently serving. we need more like her.
offense/defense....all i know is that on the ground in Iraq lots of people are dying every day. with no end in sight. for what?
I see wisdom beyond your years.
QUOTE:
"I would much rather blindly follow my parent’s thinking rather than stumble into the immature mentalities that you find among young teens. Why? My parents are 1. a lot older and a lot more experienced with life 2. God commands me to obey my parents, and that includes trusting their opinions 3. they are my parents!"
Toby
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