The Warrior's Story

The Operation had been going on for a couple of weeks, I guess, I mean who was really keeping track of time. It was HOT, everywhere we walked, sat or just stood, sweat would just pour off our bodies. Last temperature check 135 degrees in the shade. The LT had just passed the word that we could rest for a few. Since the focus of this operation was to clear a field of fire, just about everything standing had been leveled. Ahead and to the left I noticed a tree, the limbs hung low sort of like our own American Weeping Willow. I slowly walked toward the tree, heat was almost overwhelming and stifiling.

I finally crawled under the safety of the shade and for a second, my heart stopped. There leaning against the trunk of the tree was a North Viet Namese soldier, his helmet at his side, a pencil in his hand and what looked like the beginning of a letter started, but not completed. You see he had died trying to pencil his final thoughts to his family. Suddenly the quiet was broken when another Marine who had followed me under the shade of the tree had suddenly crawled to where I was, wondering where I was going, he to stopped in silence. I told him we needed to go, to leave the warrior as we found him. My Marine friend blurted out, "Doc, it's just a gook, we'll just push him out of the way so we can have the shade!"

It did not dawn on me at the time since I did not know the safety of Jesus, that God never intended us to be alone. I wonder now if that warrior from my past knew Jesus. Chances are the answer is NO. God instructed us to love Him above all others and then to love one another. You see, there is safety in numbers, when you have Jesus, you are in the safety of his shade tree. Your safety is ensured, for you have everything you need. Today, as I reflect on this story of the warrior, I wonder about his family, about his final moments on this earth and it saddens me to think what could have been, had it not been for war. Our days are numbered, let's not waste time thinking, let's spend time doing. The harvest is here and the workers are few. What are you doing to change the face of this world?

The rest of the story...
We left the warrior, as we found him and went elsewhere to seek shade!