You.

You were born in this country.  This great country.  MY country.

You born here, raised here, went to school here.  Did you go to football games?  Maybe you played in them.  Or basketball?  Maybe baseball, the great American pastime.  And college.  You went to college here.

And then you did the honorable thing, the heroic thing.  You joined the armed forces.  You agreed to become a guardian of freedom, a defender of justice.

We celebrated you.  Metals and honors.  We recognized you.  You worked hard and long and aided our wounded and broken men and women.  They trusted you.  WE trusted you.

My heart was broken when I heard what had happened. 

How dare you?

And the more I thought about it, the more I heard, the more the mourning was replaced with anger. 

Good, you deserved to be dead.  I was glad. 

Our armed forces work hard, and they deserve to feel secure when they are at home.  They’ve EARNED it.  You shattered that.  You took it upon yourself to steal away the sanctity and peace of “home.”

Good riddance.

And then you weren’t dead.  And the contempt grew.  My once broken heart hardened, and I wished you dead again. 

It was just easier that way.

And now they are saying you praised allah before you opened fire.

And that you wanted out of your commitment.  That you had begun to despise the work you willingly agreed to undertake.

And that you gave away your belongings.

You sir, are a coward. 

You are a disgrace to this country, YOUR home.  No other country was ever your home.

And contempt bred rage.  Seething, gnawing and fierce.

You wanted out, so you thought you’d become a martyr.  One of allah’s mighty warriors.   Not man enough to face the consequences of running from your duties, you decided “paradise” was the better option.

And you failed.  HA!  That’s right, I LAUGHED.

And you got for yourself the best punishment I could imagine.  You failed allah.  You missed paradise completely.  And now, for your crimes, you will be put to death by the “pig dogs” and allah will reject you because of it.

But first you have to recuperate.  You have to suffer the physical pain of your wounds.  You have to rehabilitate.  And all the while, you have to think about how you failed.

And you might try to end it all, but they won’t let you.  They will keep you alive to face trial.  And it will be easy for justice to be served. 

And it will be sweet.

And my rage was appeased by these cynical musings.  You will suffer much, and I was glad for it.

And then the whisper in my heart that I had so easily ignored overtook me.

I didn’t want to pray for you.  I wanted to pray for the injured.  And the families and friends.

But not for you.

How could God ask me to forgive?  How could He expect compassion?

And then, in place of the rage, sorrow.  How often have I failed, and He forgives me.

And you, there you are, under guard, wounded and guilty.  And your country has rejected you.  Your peers have rejected you.  Your family is forced to make apology for you.  And your god has turned his silent back on you.

You will suffer much, it’s true.  And you cannot avoid the consequences.

But you do not have to suffer alone.

Your god has left you, but MY God has offered you a second chance.

You are alive.  For how much longer, only God knows.

But you are now presented a choice.  You can merely survive the remainder of your days a failure, only to die alone, a coward’s death.  You will spend eternity in torment.  ETERNITY.  Fully aware of your torment.  Fully aware of the choice you made.

Because hell IS real. 

You may think this is hell, but you are wrong.

Or, you can seek after God.  Not allah.  Jehovah.  Not the god who requires his followers to destroy his enemies for him, but the God who forgives and loves and who desires to establish His enemies as His children and faithful servants.

The God who builds up, not tears down.

The God who heals, not destroys.

The God who IS light, not a messenger of darkness.

The God who died for His beloved so that no more blood would ever be required.

And when your days on this earth end, even though they will end as punishment for horrific acts, you can stand before THAT God, the God of love, and He can welcome you into His presence.

But it is your choice.  You alone can decide how this last chapter of your life will play out.  And you alone can determine your destination when eternity calls.  Because you and I both know that it will.

And my heart is broken again.

Because you will not read this letter.

And I will not be granted access to you.

And so I pray.  My God, Who is big enough to heal those you injured, and Who has more peace to give than the mourning families you broke could ever use up, is more than able to reach out to you.

He already has. 

You should have died.  If justice had been done, you would be a corpse right now.

But compassion won.  Mercy granted you a second chance, a pardon.

You don’t deserve it. 

But neither did I.

Not when I first learned of saving grace so many years ago, and not when, in my rage, I flippantly condemned you to damnation.

And THAT is why I will pray for you.  Not out of duty.  Not because some unseen force is compelling me. 

But because I received mercy.

I ask only one thing in return.

When that compassionate hand, in whatever form it may take, reaches out to you with the gospel of love, will you take it?

************************************************************************

I wrote this letter, or whatever you want to call it.  It comes as the result of my reactions to the tragedy at Fort Hood yesterday.

In a moment of reflection, God revealed to me that the rage I had internally justified as righteous indignation was, in fact, not of Him. 

I was forced to consider my own life and choices, and reached a simple conclusion- Jesus died for ALL of us.  He is the final judge. 

My job is not judge, but it is to stand, and having done all to stand, stand some more.  And as I stand, show love, compassion and mercy to those who would tear me down.  And when I fall, to stand back up.  And stand, not as a reflection of His light and love, but allowing Him to shine and minister THROUGH me.

I know this is a "Christmas" song.  But when I got up this morning and I remembered what day it was, strains of this song started playing through my heart.  I really felt I needed to share this (I emphasised the portion that is resonating in my heart as I type), maybe someone somewhere can take some comfort in these lyrics...

I heard the Bells on Christmas Day
as performed by Casting Crowns

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on earth good will to men

And the bells are ringing
Like a choir they're singing
In my heart I hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men

But the bells are ringing
Like a choir singing
Does anybody hear them?
Peace on earth, good will to men

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men

Then ringing singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men

And the bells they're ringing
Like a choir they're singing
And with our hearts we'll hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

Do you hear the bells they're ringing?
The life the angels singing
Open up your heart and hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

Peace on earth, Peace on earth
Peace on earth, Good will to men

I know a lot of people hate these posts.  They say that by posting on 9/11 we're letting the terrorists win because we're focusing on the past and on a singular tragedy. 

I disagree.

This is a day for us, as Americans, to remember that we are not exempt from the hardships the rest of the world faces.  But in that, we need to remember where our strength comes from.  We were built on a foundation of faith in God, and the structure of our nation was raised by unity, two attributes that we have long since laid by the wayside.

It's time to remember.  God is NOT dead.  He does not sleep.  He is our only hope.  There are a lot of people suffering in this nation, and if we look at the facts, it's only going to get worse. 

The thing is, the Truth (that's right, I mean Jesus) trumps fact everytime. 

It's time to wake up and take back what the enemy has so successfully taken from us.  No, not taken... We've handed it over willingly.  And by enemy I don't mean any one person, or any political party.  I mean satan.  He WANTS America to be in the mess we're in.  Why would he want a nation founded BY God, in order to bring glory to God's name, to succeed?  He wouldn't.  So he tempted us and lulled us, and we took the bait and rolled over.

But there is still hope...

2 Chronicle 7:14-15 says: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place."

It's time.

I saw some amazing artwork by the Master Artist on my way to work this morning.  These don't even compare to seeing the real thing, but I hope you enjoy them anyway...

I'd like to point out a rarity to you...
on the bottom right corner you will see our local
drive-in theater. They actually have two screens,
and they show a double feature (all new releases),
for $7.50 a person, every night of the week through
the spring, summer and early fall.  I've been there three
times in the past month! They're always packed out!

If you look closely in this photo and the two below it,
you can actually make out a fainter second rainbow
above the brighter one.

Have blessed day everyone!