The Living God in a Dying World

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Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. — Psalm 138:7

An eerie feeling hovered in the hot, humid night air. Although darkness would soon be over for 19-year-old Lance Corporal Andy Stokes and his fellow Marines, they couldn’t help but wonder if they would see the morning light.

It was March 21,2003—the first day of the war in Iraq. While other 19-year-olds were attending college classes or working in the States, Andy found himself in a convoy of military vehicles. He joined the Marines after graduating from high school because he liked the idea of fighting to serve his country. His unit (the first Marine Expeditionary Force) was the first to cross the Iraqi border.

War became a reality when Andy was sitting in the back of a seven-ton truck. He says, “An RPG comes screaming right down the entire line of trucks. So, we all jump out and take up our security.” In a matter of minutes, his combat training was transformed into battlefield experience.

When Andy’s platoon later went down “Ambush Alley,” the shortest and most direct path to Nasiriyah, Iraq, it was no secret that they were not alone. Many houses and buildings—perfect hiding spots for snipers—lined an approximate three-mile stretch of road.

Traveling at high speeds and without lights, the convoy began its treacherous journey. Andy sat in the back of a camouflaged truck and was changing ammunition when a rocket-propelled grenade landed within four feet of him. Popping sounds filled the air as bullets whizzed by, breaking the sound barrier.

The protective hand of God. After Andy and his fellow Marines reached their destination, they saw miles of billowing smoke. Witnesses told of flashing lines of bullets and of rocket propelled-grenades exploding everywhere. Despite this, every single Marine in the platoon dismounted their vehicles. Unbelievably, only one bullet hole was found in a single Humvee. That night, an entire platoon acknowledged that God had protected them.

Andy was much closer to the Lord when he returned to the States in July 2003. Although he became a Christian when he was in elementary school, he says: “I saw a lot of things last year (2003 deployment) and I thought, ‘Whoa . . . . there are life and death situations all of the time.’ I just wanted to be on that road (living for Christ).”

He sincerely tried to be a “good Christian” when he returned to Camp Pendleton. However, he says, “I could not do it all of the time.”

In March 2004, Andy found himself in a too familiar and unsettling location; He was back in Iraq but now in Fallujah. This time, he understood the real cost of fighting for freedom. He knew that he could be killed at any moment from an unexpected mortar or rocket. He says, “And there was always that lingering in the back of your head. We were in constant combat for about a month and a half, and on and off, the rest of the time that we were there.”

The power of prayer. Andy sent his parents, John and Sue Stokes, the names of those in his platoon to share with approximately 200 people who were praying for him. John says, “So I kept that list with me. And if I was in line at the bank, wherever I was, I would often . . . . pray through that list of names.”

John frequently prayed through Psalm 138, and he personalized the following words in verses 7-8: “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”

Sue specifically prayed: “That each one of these guys would come to know the Lord. That those who did know Him would grow in their faith by the miracles that we knew they were seeing—that they would not be wasted miracles of God. That they would recognize that they had seen the hand of the living God for a purpose far beyond them.”

Friends of the Stokes, Raymond and Betty Ray, sent Andy a copy of The Purpose Driven Life, at the same time that his squad leader received a copy from his own mother. The two read the books together over 40 days and started sharing what they learned with their platoon. Andy says, “It (the book) pretty much worked its way through the platoon—our two copies.”

Author Rick Warren says in The Purpose Driven Life (page 193), “God has a purpose for every problem.”  The platoon certainly had many opportunities to look for God’s purpose on the battlefield. Andy tells of a time when he and four other Marines hovered behind an embankment (berm) on the side of a dusty road. Sixty-millimeter mortars exploded before their eyes. (Mortars are explosives that are dropped into a tube and fired—sometimes from as far as a mile away.)

Andy explains: “The kill radius (for 60-millimeter mortars) is 5 meters, which is about 15 feet. So anything within 30 feet in diameter of where that hits is considered dead. And the casualty rate is 50 meters beyond that because it just throws rocks and shrapnel and everything all over the place.”

Seeking protection, Andy and four friends crouched down with their backs against a huge pile of dirt when suddenly mortars exploded just a few feet in front of them. Shrapnel flew everywhere. Andy temporarily lost his hearing and one piece of shrapnel ricocheted from a buddy’s glasses. The five Marines were dumbfounded: Why were they still alive?

Andy says, “My platoon sergeant was on my left and a couple of other buddies were on my right—we surely should not be here today. I could just picture an angel sitting in front of us who took all of the flack. It was pretty amazing to see that just explode right in front of us. Everybody who witnessed that said, ‘We know that God is with us tonight.’”

Another time six men in Andy’s platoon were traveling in a humvee when an Improvised Explosive Device detonated directly under the vehicle. The humvee was absolutely destroyed, yet all six Marines survived with minor shrapnel wounds.

One of Andy’s buddies was shot in the head. Andy says, “It was a 7/62 caliber . . . . The holes it left were just pinholes. It should have taken his head clean off. How does that work?”

Andy says, “Everyone had seen all of this stuff happening and a lot of us were saying, ‘That is God, definitely.’ And I was also sharing with them how many people were back here praying for them. And they are just like, ‘No kidding.’”

Welcome Home. A few weeks before Andy’s platoon left Iraq on his second deployment, his fellow Marines started to realize that something was different. Andy says, “I think that’s when it really started hitting everyone—our platoon is entirely intact. And they started thinking about the book and about me telling everybody that we had hundreds of people praying for our platoon individually by names.”

But some of Andy’s friends in other platoons will never return to loved ones. Andy says, “All of my friends who died in combat definitely fought with pride and totally with honor for their country . . . . He (God) had another purpose for that person (who died).”

On October 27, 2004, a group of about 50 people gathered at the Little Rock airport. Balloons and “Welcome Home” signs filled the air. A small child held a posted that said, “You are my hero.”

At approximately 8:20 p.m. Andy Stokes walked down the runway. His shoulders were a little broader and his heart was a little heavier. He was no longer a boy who joined the Marines because he “liked the idea of fighting to serve my country.” After two deployments in Iraq, he was a man who knew the inconceivable cost of freedom and the mighty power of prayer.

Questions to Share:

1. Where were you in March of 2003?  What have you learned from God teaching you through events in your life since then?

2. Can you look back to these past seven years and tell each other how God has answered your prayers?

Mary Larmoyeux and her husband have two married sons and five grandchildren. The author of several books, including Help for Busy Moms, she has written articles for The Family Room, HomeLife, Discovery Years and other publications. To learn more about Mary visit her website at www.marymaywrites.com