of war and peace

Thanking every single Veteran and military person for their past service, their current service, their future service. I truly admire each person who has chosen a career in the military. It is not an easy life and more often than not, their lives are given in sacrifice for our freedom. So I salute each one of you and thank each one of you today on Veteran's Day.

Sadly, though, I think we will always have wars. No one likes war. But we just don't seem to get along together, do we?? I remember hearing that there's not been many years that there hasn't been a war some place in the world. There's hardly been times of total peace in the world without wars, though we pray for it and want it. True peace on earth will come when Jesus comes back and restores this world. True peace that transcends understanding comes when you surrender your life to Jesus and allow him to work in it and trust in him.

But in the meantime, I do from the bottom of my heart thank each military person and their family because its not just the husband or the wife in the military serving, the whole family serves too. They sacrifice time without daddy or mommy and it is hard for both; the one left behind raising the children and the one gone from the children. I truly admire each military family that endures those long deployments (sometimes over and over again) and stick together. They have my appreciation and thanks.

We don't have a lot of soldiers in our family. My dad was in the Polish Army (he was born in Poland). I don't know much about his service there but I do know that for a few years he was in a Polish work camp when the Germans invaded the country. I know conditions weren't ideal in that work camp and perhaps caused him to get a lung condition that would ultimately shorten his life.

My husband's dad served 24 years in the Navy, serving in WW2, Korea, Vietnam. His longest deployment was just short of a year during the Vietnam War. I don't know all the details because of confidentiality issues of what he could share, but he did spend some time on some classified missions I guess we'll call them. It wasn't until recently that he was able to share some of these things with his wife, who had no idea of the extreme danger he was often in. But he served because he made that commitment to serve.

So again, thank you Veterans. Thank you active duty. Thank you for your service!!

We need to pray for our troops, pray for their safety, pray for their families, and pray for our leaders to make wise decisions.

And we need to learn to get along........

perhaps we need to learn to live one of my favorite Scriptures

Matthew 22:37-39: Jesus replied "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself."