A Different Kind of War

There is one that says "I tell you the truth."
There is one that is called the father of lies....
There is one that says "I am the way, the truth and the life..."
There is one whose path only leads to death and destruction...


At some point during the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan I had to bow my head and cover my eyes and ears ... I wanted it to end.... Veterans who were there will say the only thing missing from those scenes are the smells.....

I have thanked the Lord time and time again that our children are being raised thus far in a land that doesn't know of war on her soil..... not in their lifetime minus September 11, 2001. I can't even fathom what it must be like for moms who put their kids on a bus to go to school to have to wonder will the bus make it to school, will the school be bombed, will the kids be shot.... I can't imagine what it is like for mothers to watch as their children face the day in and day out consequences of war.....

I don't know how to move on from here... so I pause... I sit ... and I pause..... my hesitation comes from not wanting to be careless with that reality that real people face day in and day out.... my hesitation arises because I do not want to haphazardly make any analogy that would lessen one iota their pain and their struggle.... however I feel that in my pause and in my hesitation I still must journey into the words that surround me....

My eyes have seen real battlefields and the carnage left upon them... my eyes have been laid upon men and women and children who carry with them the scars of another and different war..... There is so much more to the unseen world than that which must of us even acknowledge however the reality of these places exists in a much more permanent way than anything that surrounds....

There are weapons at our disposal that I have not wielded well but truly long to do so .... While we are told that the truth of God is sharper than any two edged sword able to bring about incredible victories in the spirit.... there is a weapon in our arsenal that we haven't even begun to fully understand or walk in... It is love.... it is not loving our own lives to the point of death that we would lay them down for another... for a friend, a stranger, even one that would be considered an enemy.......
Love is some truly crazy substance..... it changes all that it comes in contact with.... it opens up doors that not even truth can.... and it leaves its markings and it brings forth life..... it resuscitates... it brings forth courage.... it lightens the weights upon the soul..... love covers.... love hopes... love believes... love remains.....

While hope and faith send the enemy screaming.... love brings him to his knees...... there is a force ... there is a wall.... it is called unity... and our enemy rages and we play our parts because he knows and we are ignorant of its power .....

I want to let go of the mini- kingdoms that so thrive within our communities and attack and consume the very ones that should be standing arm to arm... I want to grab a hold of my Father's ways and His Kingdom that knows no end.... there is only one enemy.... he and his are not of flesh and blood... so all that are ... well they are not my enemy....