Confusing

Just got word that another soldier in my son’s unit in Iraq was killed. Three others attached to his unit were also killed. That means they are in “blackout” for several days and cannot contact outside family until all has settled down and next of kin are notified. Now I know why he didn’t call over the Easter weekend.

On 5 APR 07, elements from Delta Company were conducting combat operations South of FOB McHenry when a dismounted team was ambushed by enemy forces.  A close fight erupted and other elements of the patrol quickly moved to their brothers’ aid.  The battle was set and the close proximity pitched a heated battle of small arms, grenades, and close air support…one of our Wolfhounds was wounded, and another was killed in action…As we returned home from Warrior by helicopters, a rocket attack on one of our ground convoys close to FOB McHenry took the lives of three of our Navy Wolfhounds who were attached for combat operations…In the blink of an eye, we have lost four more brothers.

This doesn’t do a father’s heart good.

Watching the demonstrations in Iraq last night on the news, wishing death on the Americans, and now this news from my son’s unit of the deaths . . . I’m experiencing feelings that are new to me.

I also just received this from Open Doors USA:

Still dazed from three weeks of intensive bombing and fearful of continuing lawlessness on the streets, leaders of Iraq’s embattled Christian community assured a delegation led by Open Doors that “the war has been good for us because it brought us closer together and revived our faith.”

The leaders also said it was a “miracle” that not more than 30 people from the 500,000-strong Christian community were killed in the fighting…But they also warned, “We are optimistic and pessimistic about the future: We think there will be more freedom to evangelize and connect with the wider worldwide church, but we fear that some Islamic clerics will target Christians for persecution and that ethnic identity wars could tear the country apart.”

My son is in danger. People want to kill him. But his presence means that brothers and sisters of mine in the Jesus Lord are actually safer than if he wasn’t there.

The black humor of that is like the old joke: “I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that you new car just went over a cliff; the good news is your mother-in-law was driving it.”

Anger, frustration, fear, compassion, gratitude. Talk about being confused . . .