Chad and Erika: June 2005

WAR

So we were over at Juan and Debbie’s house the other night watching “Braveheart” It raised some interesting thoughts, feelings, and discussion. First of all I feel that I am a pretty patriotic person. I love the country that God has blessed me with. I am very thankful for the men and women who serve and have served in our armed forces. I am also very thankful for the people who have fought and died, sacrificing their lives for this country. With all of that said and hopefully you read my last post you can see how seriously I take my country; it came at a great cost. I have several questions; please bear with me as I think out loud. When should I as a Christian take up arms for my country? When should we as Christians take up arms to end tyranny? Would it have been Christ like to assassinate Hitler, Stalin, or Sadam in order to save millions of lives? How am I supposed to be thinking about my earthly country when I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven? Romans 13 speaks of obeying the authority that God put above you, Peter said in Acts he had to obey God rather than men, where do I draw that line? Do think that American Christians killed German, Japanese, and Italian Christians in WWII? I am sure there were Christians who killed each other in the American civil war. Can you imagine Peter fighting for the Israeli government and Paul fighting for the Roman Government and they end up slaying each other? Please post your comments. Keep checking back I try to write at least once a week.

The cost of "America"...why me?

http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstatx.htm

I had some other thoughts that I would like to write more about later; however I found a very informative web site with well supported research. The numbers that I wanted to focus on here were the American deaths due to War. To me each one of these people means a priceless sacrifice so that we could enjoy the freedoms, comfort (good and bad), and the path of the Gospel that God has brought through this country. I am so thankful to be living in the time that I am. It is very sobering when you think about each one of those digits as real people who had friends, had families, had dreams and plans. I often think “what would have been different if one of those bullets would have been inches to the right or left and struck my grandpa in WWII; or the civil war, the revolutionary war or any other war one of my ancestors fought in. It is truly God who sustains us. When it is His timing that is when we will die, no sooner, no later. I have more thoughts than I can write right now, read these numbers and be in awe of God’s plans and His graciousness.

American Deaths
Revolutionary War: 25,174
War of 1812: 20,000
Mexican American War: 11,000
Civil War: 620,000
WWI: 126,000
WWII: 400,000
Korean War: 54,000
Vietnam: 58,000
(Since I have been alive.)
Lebanon: 273
Grenada: 18
Panama: 23
Gulf War: 268
Afghanistan: 23 (as of 6-23-05)
Iraq: 1,724 (as of 6-23-05)

On a side note
-29,247,142 legal abortions were performed in the United States, 1970-95
-According to a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die unnecessarily every year from medical mistakes made by health care professionals.

not much

It is hard coming up with stuff to write for this thing. I like posting pictures better! I always want to write things that are profound but I guess on a day to day basis I am not thinking that way. I want to write about something new and exciting the Lord is doing in my life but I don’t have any of that today (or most days). However God is not any less good, amazing, and awesome because I haven’t learned anything new nor have anything fresh to say. Maybe that is where I am going wrong, I am looking to my self to come up with something…”what am I learning?” If I would focus more on what I already know, what God has already taught me I would have plenty to say. Not only that, when situations arise the attributes of God will be fresh in my mind. Ok, I might be on to something, I will pick an attribute of God and talk about how it is specifically active in my life. Over and out.