Sometimes it’s a refreshing spiritual exercise for me to link several ways God has led His people to creatively convey His truth. I recently heard JJ Heller’s song “Your Hands”: “When my world is shaking, Heaven stands . . . When my heart is breaking I never leave Your hands.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.” Whatever our role, our position, our organization—we should strive to be the best. Agreed. But what if there was more . . . ?
Like most of you I have been TDY or deployed more times than I can count—away from my own family and my church family. One of the temptations during those times apart is to “excuse myself” from opportunities to worship. . . because I want to “relax” or “don’t know what church to go to” or “afraid of different worship styles.” However, those of you who love your local fellowship, as I do, know that to miss a Sunday is like missing a meal. It makes you hungry for the next opportunity to worship God with your Christian family. And when I am in an unfamiliar place, I have found that God is faithful and will provide for my spiritual needs if I rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Because I have developed this discipline of finding a church in which to gather with fellow Christian brothers and sisters, I was recently blessed with one of those unique opportunities to get out of my “comfort zone” and experience a wonderful time of worship and fellowship while on the road.
Is discouragement ruling your thoughts? Have you despaired at the trials of this deployment?
Has loneliness during deployment caused you to “talk to yourself”? Do you often feel that no one understands your situation? Perhaps you have experienced that your family . . . . your neighbor. . . . maybe even your spouse does not really understand what you are going through. Well-meaning people may offer a listening ear, but sometimes that just doesn’t help! I think we've all been there.
On Memorial Day we honor those who died in service to our country . . . and thank the guards charged with keeping watch over the unknowns who represent the utmost bravery of our American military service members.
On this week of Memorial Day 2025, thank you for your sacrificial service to our country and our Lord. We shall never forget. . . .
I just want to say it, “Deployments stink.” Whether they’re one month or fifteen months, they’re just awful. Ask my husband the Army fanatic – he loves wearing muted brown uniforms and shining boots and the smelling like fuel and weapons – even he will admit that living in a tent and looking at sand for any period of time is lousy. But he’d do it again tomorrow if you needed him to. I am not that dedicated. The “inner me” fights against the unknowns of war, the weariness of single-mothering, the feeling I’ve given away another year of my life. You can see where moping can take me. My inner side (yep, the flesh) is not real pretty—which is why God doesn’t want me dwelling there!
This Mother’s Day I join the ranks of millions of mothers who have gone before me, saying good-by to their sons and daughters and sending them off to war. Today my son is deploying to Afghanistan.In the past I have seen my brother off to the jungles of southeast Asia—and my husband off to the airfields of the same. Later, good-byes became common during our military career (love those Hellos!) . . . . but I had always heard that feelings are different when it is your child leaving. I think that’s true. I need perspective.
“I have concluded that when it comes right down to it, there is really only one thing I as a pastor have to offer my congregation---and only one thing that the church has to offer the world. In my role as a pastor people come to me with all sorts of problems, but I confess: I am a physician with but one medicine to prescribe, and that is the gospel of Christ. It may need to be applied in various ways, various aspects of it may need to receive the right emphasis, and it may need to be administered in the right form. But only the gospel of Jesus Christ can heal the deepest wounds of the human heart and enable us to prosper according to God's design, bringing glory to our Lord.” Dr. Bill Kynes of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church, Annandale, VA This is a powerful quote, posted on The Gospel Coalition blog. Thank you, Dr. Kynes, for speaking truth to all of us.