He's Got Your Back

Bathed in prayer is what I would call it this morning. How can a heart be both heavy and excited? How can one be excited for the adventure awaiting a young, confident, patriotic young man and yet so heavy about the potential danger that lies ahead. It seems such opposite extremes. I'm looking for a lesson here. 

Someone so precious to me is about to embark on this "mission", I'd call it. I find it so remarkable when young men (and women) so willingly desire to enlist in our military. Ours is like none other. I pray for them, not only for the way they 'stand on the line' for me, but because I feel like our own govt does not always have their back. I know that God always does though. If they are His, then he has ALWAYS got their back!  Yes, I know that does not necessarily mean perfect safety, but it does mean perfect peace. I need a really big dose of that peace this morning!

Interestingly, I have no real idea about how this nation of ours is doing right now. Roger always knew what was going on in this country, what was being voted on, who the big players were at any given moment. He pretty much knew what was going on in the world at any given time as well. He made the world of government, politics, global affairs so very interesting. He had a way of putting things into perspective, and yet he never ever really showed fear for what tomorrow might bring.  He never showed anxiety in any way, even when he did not like the decisions being made 'by the powers that be.'  I know that was God's peace and he had it because he always knew who held the future, and as he would always say...."pick up the Bible and read the end of the story."  (We win) 

And he recognized that a lot of people these days just blow off the Bible as any kind of serious reference. (Bad call, he would say)  And yes, take it or leave it, you have to wonder....what if at the end of it all, The Bible, and what it contains really did hold the answer to everything. It's going to be a pretty interesting day when that answer is revealed! Roger never worried because he knew what he believed and he believed it to the very core of his being.  I do too, which also makes me wonder why in the world I have this heaviness this morning.  Perhaps it is just because I live in THIS world, where most of the time, nothing makes sense.

So I pray for all of the positives that God promises us to surround my precious one this morning. And not only him, but his adorable wife and siblings and parents and aunts and uncles and friends. And I pray for those that he will meet along the way, because I also believe that God allows people to cross paths for a reason. It is not destiny, it is not fate, it is God so very often working out his plan with a heavenly encounter. I've seen it too often. I know it is true. I pray for those who will guide him, that it will be wise counsel that he receives. And I pray for that hedge of protection around him that only God can provide. 

But where is Roger's Lesson?  I'm wondering if his 52 years on the fire service is not what he is showing me now. It is a pretty dangerous career choice, and certainly at the top of the stressful list put put out by insurance companies. And he worked around some serious explosive opportunities. Yet every shift day, when he walked out the door to put his life on the line for someone he probably would not even know, he did it with the confidence that God had already planned his day and held him in the palm of His hand. He would always remind me that he could just as easily step off a curb and get hit by a bus and that God was in control.  No matter how I try to play things out in my crazy head, I just keep coming back to that.  Fifty Two (52) years on the Fire Service and never a fire related injury, and yet, doing the ordinary thing he did almost every day, he left for eternity. 

It had to be God's plan, and it had to have a message for us. And that's all there is. 

Do what you have a  passion for. God is in control. Or perhaps more accurately, be sure you are a Child of the King.....and God's for sure got your back! 

Thanks Roger for that lesson. You lived it every day and I almost missed it. 
And like I always prayed for your safety on duty, I shall keep doing that for others. 
It's the only way to have peace about a very dangerous career!