Monday, November 12, 2012

An Open Letter to Veterans



(In a few minutes my kiddos and I are delivering this letter to three veteran friends who did combat duty.  With brownies.  'Cause brownies are awesome.  Feel free to do the same. :)

Dear Veteran,

The Bible says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” (Psalms 33:12). 
I am thankful to veterans like you, who gave up
                        Your time of youth when you could have chosen a different path;
Your freedom in the U.S. to go to an environment where fear abounds but freedom is non-existent;
                        The income you could’ve made working at a different job during your time of service;
                         Health, in exchange for scars on the body and sometimes in the mind;
                         The comfort of being with those you held dear, that you might serve a greater good.

Because of you, I enjoy
                        The freedom to dress how I choose;
                         Going anywhere I please without being escorted by a male relative;
Teaching my children about what a beautiful thing democracy is as I cast my vote for our country’s leaders last week;
Teaching my children that democracy started with GOD.  Not Allah, or Muhammad, but the Almighty GOD of heaven, as that is how He chose to set up His church (Acts 1);
The ability to pray, to worship, and to teach my kids about Jesus.
Freedom from fear in my daily life, freedom from want, and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I thought today about how dictators are like cancer.  If you catch cancer early enough, you can remove it, eradicate it with radiation or chemotherapy, and completely extinguish any threat it might make to the entire body.  But if caught too late, it spreads rapidly and overpowers the body to the point of death.

I see these world dictators and powers and regimes------those in Korea, in Vietnam, in the Middle East, in Germany, among other places-----as a cancer.  And I thank GOD to live in a nation that doesn’t wait for the cancer to spread, but instead sends selfless individuals such as you in an attempt to vanquish it. 

Because we live in a nation under God, in a nation that allows HIS truths to be self-evident through the freedom of worship and the preaching of the gospel, we are the most blessed nation in this entire world. 

Truly, BLESSED is the nation whose God is the Lord!

May God richly bless you and have a great Veteran’s Day!

Love and prayers, and many thanks----
The Stotler family J

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