"My "Fathers" Battle"

Rembering and honoring all 
those who gave their lives by
honoring one who fought.

The Vietnam War hung over our lives like a mysterious
 cloud most of our growing up years.  The memories of it 
brought my father storms that raged in his soul often. 
He fought these storms as far

back as I can begin to remember. 

He saw the worst in men during His time in Vietnam.  
He also saw the best.  He saw men he had grown to love
 die as they fought, so bravely.  He came home to a 
country that didn't understand the war, that

hated our soldiers.  My mother watched as people took 
away from these vets the praise and honor 
they so dearly needed.  
My mother struggled to relearn, deal with, understand
this stranger, this man that was so different from the one 
who she had kissed a hundred kisses to before he left 
her for this Vietnam.

We only get tiny glimpses of what his world was like there.  
As so often the case, these memories are tucked away 
in a secret place where visitors are 
not usually welcome. 

My father would never be that carefree young man
 that left on that plane. Forever his mind would undergo
 an  assault few of us can begin to

understand.  Only one thing could change his destiny,
 his entire family's

future. 

Someone presented Christ to my parents. 

 This Christ not only saved his soul but gave him a chance 
to look beyond his circumstances. Gave him hope.  
Gave our family hope. 

My father didn't always win his personal battles. But I 
can say he did fight and when he lost these mental 
 battles there was always apologies that followed.  
Heart felt love was evident.  He pushed through his 
own pain to push his children towards Christ.  
This Christ that gave him hope.

The army, his service, wasn't something hung up in our 
home like a trophy for all to see.  His time fighting in the 
Vietnam War 
was remembered sometimes very

bitterly.  But..  we were always...  ALWAYS proud of
 his service.  Proud of him becoming the man God 
saw he could be.

I love my father.  I love the Lord of our lives that 
guided him through battles that lasted long long
 after this war was

over. 

I thank God now for all those who are brave enough
 to stand between our country and harm.  Those who
we remember today.  I am thankful for Christ who stands 
in the gap and wars for us.  
We have no memory, no matter how painful, that God
 can not ease.  No mental battles that our Father in 
Heaven does not fight with us.  No place to dense, 
deep or dark that He can not find us and pull us from.

Thank you to all who not only serve on the battle fields 
but to all who enlist.  Remembering the men
who died and also those families who lost 
a part of those have served. Thank you all who do
 this important duty to serve our county.  
God Bless you all!