“Son if you take this award you honor the unit that they belonged to. I also believe their families would want you to have it. The families of those who are alive today because of your actions under fire would also want you to have it.”
“General Dempster reached over, pinning not only the Bronze Star on my pillow, but my second Purple Heart. Rising up the General came to attention and saluted me. I sure didn’t deserve that. I tried to return the salute, but it hurt too much.
Why am I alive, Allister? How come I didn’t die when I took those three rounds? One in the shoulder, one in the arm, one in the thigh and then the impossible. In another engagement I took an armor-piercing round right through my armor vest, why did I survive?”
Tank looked at him pensively through moistened eyes.
“You’re alive, because …show more content…
“The Lord healed me. He took me out of the wheelchair in the church. Now, I’m back in it. People in the congregation told me that happened because of sin in my life.” Pastor Jim was clearly angry.
“How dare they? They are the ones with sin in their lives.”
“Still, Pastor, the Lord hasn’t taken away my pain and failures.”
“Listen Tank, the Lord won’t let you go through anything that you don’t have the weapons to overcome. In the Bible when things got too tough, the Lord showed up with the miraculous. Sometimes the rescue mission came at the last-minute. I’m sure you experienced that in the service.”
“What do I have to do Pastor?” He hoped for a magic pill to take it all away.
“There is no magic potion, Tank. We need to get together every week to talk and pray together. Over time, we will discover the best way for you to live with it all. It’s different for every one of us. Let me ask you a question that will show you that it can’t all be addressed right away. What is your most frightening memory?”
“Pastor, before we go there, I need time to process what we touched on today.”
Tank stood up signaling to Allister it was time to
“General Dempster reached over, pinning not only the Bronze Star on my pillow, but my second Purple Heart. Rising up the General came to attention and saluted me. I sure didn’t deserve that. I tried to return the salute, but it hurt too much.
Why am I alive, Allister? How come I didn’t die when I took those three rounds? One in the shoulder, one in the arm, one in the thigh and then the impossible. In another engagement I took an armor-piercing round right through my armor vest, why did I survive?”
Tank looked at him pensively through moistened eyes.
“You’re alive, because …show more content…
“The Lord healed me. He took me out of the wheelchair in the church. Now, I’m back in it. People in the congregation told me that happened because of sin in my life.” Pastor Jim was clearly angry.
“How dare they? They are the ones with sin in their lives.”
“Still, Pastor, the Lord hasn’t taken away my pain and failures.”
“Listen Tank, the Lord won’t let you go through anything that you don’t have the weapons to overcome. In the Bible when things got too tough, the Lord showed up with the miraculous. Sometimes the rescue mission came at the last-minute. I’m sure you experienced that in the service.”
“What do I have to do Pastor?” He hoped for a magic pill to take it all away.
“There is no magic potion, Tank. We need to get together every week to talk and pray together. Over time, we will discover the best way for you to live with it all. It’s different for every one of us. Let me ask you a question that will show you that it can’t all be addressed right away. What is your most frightening memory?”
“Pastor, before we go there, I need time to process what we touched on today.”
Tank stood up signaling to Allister it was time to