Throughout the history of mankind, there has never been a period of genuine peace. If swords were not drawn or if gun powder wasn’t wafting in the air, then certainly angry words were being flung back and forth between nations, tribes and peoples. Wars and rumors of wars reverberate across shaky borders, separated by the barbed wire that defines temporal lines on the map.
The ancients fought wars with crude weapons – spears, arrows, boiling oil and rocks flung on catapults. With the advent of gunpowder, some military genius lined everyone up on each side and had them fire away until no one was left standing.
Wars have been launched over an insult, a choice piece of land, or even a woman. For some at war, they have forgotten why the enemy deserves the hated status. They fight, but they do not know why.
Today, we are sophisticated with satellite imagery, drones, and tanks that can chew through the opposition. Supersonic airplanes and seaborne ships launch missiles from miles away with pinpoint accuracy.
No matter how advanced our wars become, they still remain an awful part of our fallen world. We fight because we can-not agree. We cannot agree because we are given to the fleshly pursuit of power, pleasure and profit.
Wars almost always start with angry words, threats and escalations – not by the military man, but by the politician. When they are done posturing, they then turn to the military to make good on their word.
And then, our family and friends button their uniforms, tighten their boots and take up arms. We send our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles to lands near and far away to try to right the tyrant, to sway the unre-pentant, to thwart the oppressor. In a strange way, we pur-sue peace through war.
I don’t pretend to understand all the theology of how God chooses sides in conflict. I don’t know who to root for in many battles. It’s difficult to separate all the hidden agendas and personalities. Often, it’s difficult to know the good guy from the bad.
Yet, I believe in justice and I believe that God often uses man to execute it. That’s why heaven is so appealing to us. Besides the streets of gold, the perfect weather, the all you can eat buffet tables, we are drawn by the notion of peace. No more war.
I volunteered to go into the Air Force after a year of college. I wasn’t motivated out of any kind of holy unction, nor was I overly patriotic in my right-handed oath. I was lured by the promise of educational benefits, a steady paycheck and travel. No one told me about gas masks, all night guard duty, dried rations and the fact that my life might be taken away at any moment. That wasn’t in any recruiting material.
I stood side by side with true warriors, who as children ran in the fields with mud on their faces shooting at unseen enemies with nothing more than a stick. Many friendships made then have endured the test of time.
I learned much about cooperation, diversity and unity – lessons I carry with me to this day. I learned about myself – that I could do amazing things with the gifts God has given me. I learned about God – that he speaks in the dirty foxhole, on the noisy flight line, and on the dark sea just as he speaks from a million pulpits every Sunday.
I heard the call of military duty, but I heard God. Eventually my military service was more than just a duty; more than a job. Veterans do not shirk. They do not run. They do their duty for country, for God, for all of us. We served, but He saved.
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