Day 3 - Suffering?

Nothing spectacular to report on the food front. We were all about leftovers today. When I offered a choice between leftover beans or veggie stew the question was, "Do you have chipati to go with that stew?" When the answer was "no" we all opted for the beans.

There was a special treat today when a friend of ours brought cupcakes to a meeting we were having. They were to celebrate her 17 year old's birthday. Now, Kaleb was the only one of our children in attendance but he was sweet enough to nab cupcakes for each of his siblings. They were so ecstatic over those cupcakes you'd think we'd been fasting from junk for 3 months instead of 3 days!

Today we met with a local gentleman, Bill Johnson, who is a Marine Veteran of WWII. He was part of the surge on Iwo Jima. It was mine and Kaleb's second time to hear Mr. Johnson's war account, but I found myself once again transfixed to the details of his amazing story.

As he described the fervor of the young men volunteering for service after Pearl Harbor, I looked around the room at all the teenagers sitting there and wondered if they would have felt the same way. As he described the horror of war and the weight of responsibility in leading a group of 40 men on Iwo, I wondered if our boys had it in them to do the same. Then he posed a question to the group.

"What things do you think are worth fighting for?"

I don't know if they were being shy, reflective or just weren't engaged, but only one of the young men gave an answer. He said, "Freedom was worth fighting for." Mr. Johnson agreed.

Hearing how hard the servicemen worked in defense of our country and how unified and hard-working our country was in support of those men made me think about the comforts we surround ourselves with. Like food.

Now, food is necessary and I believe God gave us taste buds so we could enjoy the foods He provides, but here in the West we really take food for granted. It's so easy to run to the store to pick up any ingredient we want. Easier still to pay somebody else to cook it for us because we are too rushed to go through the process for ourselves. I'm not being judgemental here because I absolutely LOVE me some Mexican food on a Sunday afternoon and let's face it, my family would die if we had to live off the land (black thumbs over here). I just wonder what I would do in the face of true suffering. I've often commented that God must have known I was meant for this point in history because I probably would not have done well settling our country like a Pilgrim or pushing west in a covered wagon.

Which brings me back to Mr. Johnson. His time in Iwo-Jima was over when a hollow-tipped bullet ripped through his hand (which happened to be over his heart at the time) and landed him in a fox-hole with dead Japanese for a couple of days. Gangrene set in as he waited for a safe time to work his way out and back to safety (a relative term on Iwo Jima). He doesn't harbor bitterness over his experience, but he honestly wondered aloud over why he lived through the war and other men did not.

He found out afterward that he had an aunt praying specifically for him "to get shot in the hand and returned home safe." God was listening to her prayers, wasn't she? Knowing Mr. Johnson and all he means to so many people, I know it was clear that God's plan did not include him dying in the war. God is in control and he has a good plan for our lives.

So I'm trusting that God has me where he wants me. Suffering is part of life and God promises never to give us more than we can handle. The trick is handling it through His strength and not our own. I hope I remember these truths when my day of suffering comes. More importantly, I hope my children know Jesus before they have to face true crisis in their own lives.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
His love endures forever!

- Julie