Gone Fishin!

There's nothing like an emergency to put things in perspective. When life is smooth and all is good and everything is right with the world, priorities get a little out of whack. I'm sure the victims of the last hurricane can atest to that. In our little world we had a physical emergency this week. Jack, my youngest (pictured here) came down with a nasty case of pneumonia. It was so bad that his oxygen saturation levels dropped dangerously low. Since last Saturday he has been on O2 to stabalize his breathing while we waited patiently, sometimes not so patiently for the anti-biotics to kick in. I have been overwhelmed at the outpouring of support both from my church family and from my Army family. I am convinced that prayer is effective, if only to bring us to the feet of Jesus for a time. Its been six months since I've been home this long (4 days now) and I blessed to have been able to spend some time with my daughter, my wife and my son. Hopefully he'll go home today or...

This is a picture of a friend of mine, Elijah, from Sudan. 15 years ago when he was 7 years old he and about 10,000 other children, most less that 10 years old, walked out of Sudan to escape persecution. All of their families had been murdered. They walked 1000 miles through deserts and mountains. They crossed rivers. They were stalked by wild animals, many of the children were killed by crocodiles. But my friend made it out. Now, he serves in the Army. He is a translator. He told me today that God did a miracle in his life by allowing him to complete that journey. I imagine basic training is very easy for him. He and I lead music in the field today as we took communion. We sang "Amazing Grace". How appropriate to sing "Amazing Grace" with this man. God showed His grace on both of us. He saved me from myself and my friend Elijah from a civil war. The grace of God knows no continental boundries!