I met Levi a month ago. Tom, a guy who is a periodic helper in the audio visual ministry at my church, had invited his nephew, Levi, to church one Sunday. I introduced myself to him. Found out he was from Illinois, but living in Clarksville. He was in the military. That’s as far as our conversation went. Now, mind you I didn’t bring up the impending inevitable war. I didn’t really want to make him more nervous about it than what he may have been already. Besides, surely they wouldn’t be sending this kid to war…..I was sure he had just started in the military.
Levi left for Kuwait the week after I saw him. You see, Levi is a member of the 101st Airbourne. An unlikely hero. An extraordinary champion willing to put his life on the line for me, someone he had just met.
It was just recently that I realized that these are real people. When CNN says “there were heavy skirmish around Basra,” they’re talking about real soldiers like Levi fighting for your and my freedom. Freedom for us to go out without fear of some attack on our hometown. It puts a face on courage.
But what about the rest of them? Surely I know more people over there. Keith, someone who I grew up with, just got called up. Rebecca’s husband Brad is probably over there. What about Adam? I met Adam at a church camp a couple of years ago. He was just out of high school. The next thing I know he’s gone to basic training. I asked him if there was a chance he’d be going over there if there was a war. He said definitely. I hadn’t seen him online in several weeks.
Is Garrett over there? Garrett’s been in training with the air force for several months now. Surely he isn’t over there. But we haven’t heard otherwise.