27 May 2008 Devotion for Today "Watch An Hour" Matthew 26:40-41
Since the war began nearly seven years ago, I've never ceased to pray for our troops who are in harms way in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I pastored a military congregation in Germany, near a US. Army base, during 9/11. I saw the anguish on the faces of family members whose soldiers were deployed to the Middle East to make ready for war. Several of my church members and friends I knew were deployed several times. To my shame I have to say that thoughts of the war don't reach the forefront of my daily concerns the way they once did. I'm reminded of it now and then when a news broadcast reports a casualty or something is being featured in those places in the news, but it didn't have the same effect it once did.
Until this weekend. Friday was the day the realization of the war we are fighting really came home to me. A couple in my church asked for their grandson's name be placed on the prayer list. I remember two months ago they told me of their travels to Camp Lejeune, NC, to see Kelly, a 19 year old marine, off for his second deployment. He had been injured when he was in Iraq the first time, not more than a year ago. I was taking classes at Liberty University on Friday when the grandmother sent me an email telling me the news that her grandson had been wounded an RPG attack. When I spoke to her by phone a few hours later, she said she had not heard many details, but that he had been critically injured- but that the outlook seemed good to that point. They had not heard much more Sunday morning when they came to church. But through the day, Kelly's condition worsened; complicated by swelling on the brain from the severe concussion of the blast in addition to the large chest wound. They also told them that brain activity was unresponsive Their daughter, Kelly's mother, and husband traveled to Germany that night. All they would say was that they were keeping him on life support until they could get there. When the parents arrived, Kelly was in surgery to relieve pressure on the brain.
We conducted a Memorial Day celebration at church on Sunday night. I was moved so deeply by the news of this young man I could scarcely keep my mind on the worship service. Indeed my eyes were blinded by tears several times during the service. We enjoyed a picnic dinner prior to it, and I could not enjoy my food. I broke away not long after the service ended and returned to my home, broke down and wept. This was the day that the War on Terror, and our need to pray for our troops, their families and loved ones- after all these years-really hit home to me. I confess how easy it is to be preoccupied with life and all of the busy things we do in the normal routine of civilian life that most of us truly "do not have a clue" what our military personnel and their families deal with on a daily, if not hourly basis.
May I encourage you today to take your prayer list and remember to pray for a soldier, an airman, a sailor, a marine, and make a commitment to pray for them and their families until they return home. If every Christian prayed, I am convinced that our military will have sufficient prayer covering for them to accomplish their mission and hopefully end this war.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was in agony as he prayed and waited for his crucifixion the following day. He asked His disciples to wait up with him, and pray. Most of them, however, fell asleep through those dark hours of the morning. Jesus asks us even today: "Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:40-41).
In your prayers, please pray for Kelly Watters, his parents Lisa and Peter Watters, and grandparents Carlos and Carol Ingold and other family members.
Have a blessed day!
