“It is critical to stop the unraveling of the American military family.”  MG (Ret.) Bob Dees

Who do you know who has a spouse serving in a military war zone?  When is the last time you reached out to the family left behind?

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,  (Mark 10:43b; NLT)

Everybody professes to hate email forwards.  Ever noticed that?  Yet, if everybody hated them, you would think they wouldn’t participate in the very behavior that they don’t like.  But yet, I have seen no decrease in the number of forwards that have been coming to our mail boxes.  Have you?  Finding the people who like forwards is kind of like trying to find someone who voted for the loser in the last election, isn’t it?  (Well maybe the most recent election is an exception.)

Well, I have to admit that sometimes I like forwards.  Another tic-mark for your “Jerry’s so weird scorecard.”    The reason I “sometimes” like them is because sometimes I receive some pretty good stuff.  With the amount of stuff that’s being put out on the Internet these days, the forwards act somewhat like a filter to screen out the terrible and mundane and pass through those with promise.  That’s the story behind today’s DG.  I would have never found this particular video if it hadn’t been forwarded to us by a dear friend, Sue Cunningham.

Without this forward, I probably would never have heard of North Platte, NE and it’s history-making significance way back when I was still in diapers.  I may have never learned that Campus Crusade has an arm or a branch that ministers to the military.  (See http://www.militaryministry.org/, and while you’re there, don’t overlook the obscure invitation to watch the short “6 Pillars Video.”  In that video, I learned that this last year divorce rates among Army officers went up 78%, suicides among Marines went up 29%, suicide rates in all the services have gone up since 2002 with the real victims of this situation being the military children.  Staggering numbers…especially given that we live in a military area.  So, thank you Sue.  You have made me more aware.

Regarding the video that I’m encouraging you to watch today, the originator of the email (whom I don’t know) wrote, “This is a wonderful story.  It makes me want to live in that era, even though times were also hard.  People really cared about others and wanted to help regardless of what they did or did not have to give.  They just did it out of love and pride of their country.  Times have really changed.  Somewhere the greed stepped in and selfishness took over.”

To that I offer a hearty “amen!”

Prayer Power
Father, we thank You for this country and the values upon which it was founded.  We’ve seen a bit of erosion in recent years, and we pray that You would intervene in our hearts to restore that attitude of putting the needs of others ahead of our own.

Link of the Day
North Platte Canteen

Blessings on you as you reach out to a military family this week.