Repay no one for evil

Romans 12:17 Repay no one for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

I have been feeling somewhat introspective of late. Lost is thought and reviewing past events that I have absolutely no ability to change is what it really boils down to. I have been thinking about my son Andy’s court martial. The days and all they held have come and gone. But the echoes of the events will reverberate for a long time.

I am processing the events leading up to, during and immediately after Andy’s court martial in September. It is not a matter of being depressed, rather I am reflecting on the experience to determine if I have learned all I needed to learn.  It is important and I know that there were many opportunities to learn and now I have opportunities to share what I learned from the experience.  The time spent with Andy is one I will always cherish. It was a time of shared adversity. It was a time to develop bonds that not every father and son have the opportunity to experience. Frankly I pray that no one else will ever have to go through what we went through and continue to go through. But, we live in a broken world so we can expect that this will happen again unless we try to do something to stop it.

The series of events that led up to Andy being involved in the killings in Afghanistan are a tragic tale of missed opportunities, profound lapses in leadership, and a complete absence of common sense. The war in Afghanistan is splayed across our news each and every day. The loss of human life is tragic. The repercussions within our own country will be felt for many years to come. In the midst of all of this is a huge lessen to be shared that goes right to the heart of Romans 12:17. Repay no one for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. I will not debate whether the war being fought in Afghanistan is right or wrong. But I will debate how we are supporting those who stand in harms way. We are asking our young men and women to fight an enemy that does not share the same sense of morality that we share within our society in the USA. We are giving our men and women in uniform the difficult task of not giving in to the temptation to repay evil with evil. We owe them our support. I frankly do not care whether you support the war or not. But to not give our support in prayer is inexcusable. To fail to pray that they will do what is honorable at all times and in all places is just the only thing to do. To do less dishonors our faith and their service. We can look back to the cross and draw the inspiration for praying. Jesus prayed for mercy to be shown to those who knew not what they were doing (Luke 23:34). Jesus modeled compassion that we need to grasp onto and carry as our banner. We need to step up and pray for these men and women to do what is honorable in the sight of all when the world around them may be clamoring for them to do otherwise. That is the compassion we need to show to all of our service men and women. You do not have to like that there is a war, but you should take the time to pray for those serving to be honorable. My hope in asking each of you to take time to pray is that in the future, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters will not have to endure what our family is enduring. Neither do we want families in far away lands to suffer as the family of the young men who lost their lives in senseless killings. This should have never happened, and with the help of God, it will never happen again. Please take the time today and every day to pray.

PRAYER: Almighty God, Your Spirit fills each believer with faith, love and hope. The promise of the cross is one of life eternal in the your presence O Lord. Your love and mercy endures forever. We ask Father that your Spirit would fill each and every man and women serving in our armed forces at home and abroad with the knowledge of good and evil. We ask Lord that Your wisdom would fill their minds with the overwhelming desire to not repay evil with evil. We ask that their actions would be indeed honorable in the sight of all. We ask Father that they would be given the strength and faith to resist the temptation to do what is wrong in Your eyes and the eyes of the world. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Spirit are one God, now and forever. Amen