Monday: Scars

But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

My dad told us of Pearl Harbor. He spoke of his military job of driving the ‘Brass’ around on coral lined roads. He talked of the motor cars he drove. Often, he spoke of the islands in enduring ways. About the island’s culture, wild life and other fond memories of the Hawaiian Islands in December 1941.

As time passed, I remembered his sleepless nights and waking up in terror. There were too many years of struggling with alcohol. Yet, despite these problems he provided a home and life for us. Our family grew up in a free and fertile America. None of us knew what Dad had really gone through during his military stay at Pearl Harbor.

My dad’s suffering was nothing he ever shared with anyone. Mom said he arrived a week after the bombing. Later, after his death at the ripe age of 89, we found evidence that he may have been there Sunday the seventh. We will never know.

There are different types of causalities in all wars, some died quickly while others suffer a lifetime. Each of us are in a battle. One which is between the powers of good and evil. It’s really rather simple: are you on God’s side or Satan’s?

My heart goes out to all the families who have sacrificed a loved one physically or mentally to war. But greater are my affections for the spiritual war that you may still need to win. Don’t suffer silently in sin. Let God bath you in His forgiveness and great gift of Jesus’s sacrifice.