The Cost of it All

Wow! It is a sad day for my family as we work to understand and comes to terms with having to say good-bye to Tom. Tom died doing his job-flying a fighter jet in (to make a longer story not so much) a training mission. He is survived by all of us that love him including a wife and 3 children.

The past year I have had to really remind myself that I do love America and I do support her. Maybe I don't think that the administration did the best job of "selling" the need to invade Iraq, and maybe I think that more resources should be up in Afghanistan/Pakistan trying to route out OBL.

Here is the thing on Osama- it would be a victory for us and a good rallying point, but killings Osama will not end Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda unfortunately is larger than OBL. I wish I could come up with an answer to fighting terrorism, because it is evil, but the problem is millenia old and will not be solved in a month, or even a year. We here in America don't comprehend what is going on. These people are fighting for their religious beliefs, and for most of us that is as personal as it gets. They are fighting for the assurance that they will go to paradise when they die.

Islam is not a peaceful religion. Islam is worship and belief in a vengeful, non-loving deity. In Islam you have to do more "good" than "bad" so that your scale will get you to paradise. I feel sorry for people that are slaves to Allah. I am oh so thankful for the freedom I have in Christ. To know that no matter my God, the one true God loves me and I am going to Heaven. Not because of what I have done or could do, but because God loves me and Jesus made it possible. Christianity boils down to love, forgiveness and acceptance. The only ACT I have to do is to believe and accept. That is it!!!

I want to SHOUT my love for Christ. I also want to go and hug my family that is closer to Tom and tell them that Jesus is here and just waiting to hug us and to bring us comfort and peace. I want to let them know that as dark as the sky is now, the sun will shine again, because the SON is shining in glory.

I also want to let everyone I know that is in the military that I love you and that I urge you to pay attention and be safe. For those of us that have loved ones in the military there is a sense of pride for what they are doing and the love they have for their country, and we support you fully, but there is always that reminder that we can't always protect you. We have to just trust that God will bring you back to us. And if He doesn't, than there is a reason that He wanted you home with Him.

America isn't cheap. Our lifestyles and freedom are paid in blood, sweat and tears. As much as I may wish that things had gone differently, that the administration had "sold" the war better to the public, I wish even more that people would just get over it enough to see that our military needs our support. Lives are being lost and changed daily- here and overseas.

I want to end by saying THANKS to all current military persons and vets too. I love America and I thank you and yours for your patriotism, so that I can live in such a wonderful place. May we all work to see and praise God for blessing us with such a wonderful homeland!!!