Advent 2009:: The Coming PEACE Wednesday

Wednesday Peace::

I have a good friend in Afghanistan who flies attack helicopters in the war. He gets a chance every now and then to send me pictures and emails about some of the stuff happening. He asks me to pray for his wife and kids who are home without their husband and father. He asks me to pray for the people that he serves with who have been wounded. And he asks me to pray for the families of those who have died in the battles.

As I do that, I reflect on the pain that he and his fellow service men must be facing and that his fellow service men face. I also reflect on the stress and fear that has to overcome these guys’ families. This is not the first time my friend has been in Afghanistan. When he returned home the last time, the reunion of my friend and his family was cherished because they knew intimately what it meant to be apart, to be separated. The peace they have in those moments of reunion is a peace that I cannot fully understand, because I have not been in an attack helicopter over enemy territory.

I think we cannot truly appreciate the peace we enjoy unless we know the pain, fear and difficulties of what it means to be at war. In today’s reading, we see the place that we are before Christ comes into our lives with his peace.