What was is gone, what is now is next

When King David was old and nearing death, he called his son Solomon and told him he was about to die, that Solomon would need to be strong and show himself a man. It happens. One generation passes, another generation remains. How many times has that happened? Countless times. Each generation is left with taking up what the previous generation set down.

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Of Shiny Knights and First Valentines

Reflecting on life, as I often do, I thought of my daughter who I met for the first time last year. She is 23 and I did not know her until last year. I was disappointed that I only just met her. There was so much of her life I missed. I may be her father, but I never got the chance to be her dad. I missed a grand opportunity.

A child’s first hero should always be the dad. The guy who can lift anything, reach anything, open anything, kill any bug, and knows a lot of stuff. As they grow up they will come to realize dad cannot do everything and does not know as much as first thought. But in some special place inside the child remains a memory that dad was once a hero in their eyes. I missed out on that experience with my daughter.

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Uncle John

Uncle John

By Dave Doc Rogers

© 20090131

For the “Support our Support” contest at Writers Café

He sat on his couch, surrounded by loved ones, showing a turkey shoot trophy for first place. He was an older man reliving the vigor of youth. I sat there watching as a young man, ignorant of the importances of life. Here was my uncle; my mother’s sister’s husband. I suppose proximity and familiarity diluted the strength of this man. I did not realize until much later the value of the man who sat there excitedly retelling how an “old man” like himself out shot all of those “younger” guys. My dad, no longer a young man himself, shared in that laughter. Knowing eyes did not divulge much more than laughter.

It was the thing all young men did. They kissed their wives or their girlfriends, waved good-bye to their moms, boarded a bus, and went to basic training. For those living in rural, depression-era Georgia during the 1930s and early 1940s, a money earner for the family just got on that bus. They would have to do with even less now. Some may have argued that very point. Others said nothing because it was the right thing to do. In middle Europe at the same time, no one had an option. They were engaged in a war.

My Uncle John arrived at boot camp, received the haircut, was issued new clothes, was told where to go. He distinguished himself as a country boy who could shoot. They transferred him to one motorized division to another one for special infantry. After training, he went to England. After England, he spent considerable time in France. He was with the boys that survived when they landed at Normandy. He was with them when his division was honored for holding a key city until relieved. I was told his tank was hit. He went one way. His best friend went the other. They didn’t see each other again for many years. Grown men bawling like babes on a downtown street.

The honored sergeant returned home. There were no outward signs of damage. It was a different era. They didn’t talk about combat fatigue or battle stress. They just dealt with ‘their’ issues. Those that served in the Pacific or in Europe understood what it was like. The horror stories these men could not share because the eyes staring back at them would disbelieve. For an infantry soldier, warfare gets very close and personal. Uncle John was no exception. My mother related a story after my uncle’s return from war where his mind returned to war while his body was in central Georgia. It involved shoving his oldest boy against the wall, shouting interrogating words in German, and a loving family trying to get their dad back. When he came back to his mind, he left for three days. He loved his family much.

There were no other tales told of my Uncle John beyond here is a man who helped raise ten kids, loved his wife, worked really hard, loved to fish, loved to hunt, and loved his extended family as his own. He and his brother-in-law helped create a legacy of sorts. Because of their honored service to their country in extremely difficult times, many of the children of the extended family proved themselves also in military service; even in times when the military effort was disliked. I, too, served.

A movie came out about saving a private which lead to a mini-series about a parachute infantry regiment. My Uncle John was one of those that shouted Currahee! He was one of the fortunate few that returned home. Having watched the mini-series several times and knowing what I know of war from books, film, interviews, and marginal experience, I gained a better measure of the man who sat upon his couch surrounded by loved ones talking about a turkey shoot trophy. I never heard him make a big deal of his time in Europe. I heard him make a big deal about his family and living life. His sons and daughters spoke more of their father’s time in Europe than he did. He was one of the fortunate few that returned to live life among people, to face the challenges of normalcy, to hope to never send their sons and daughters to go do what he did.

My Uncle John spent the remainder of his days a father, a grandfather, and a great grandfather. He had the misfortune to bury his wife at younger age than should have been. A man of goodly physical strength waned to old age and disease. He was laid to rest, a hero; not of war but of life. War shaped his passion for living. Life tasted all the more sweeter. Those things taken as common and unappreciated became of high value, because of whom and what he left behind in Europe during the 1940s.

My Uncle John rests with his wife now. He lived a full life; fuller than most, perhaps less than others. He gave of himself willingly for God and country and for a people he did not know. He returned and worked and lived. No one knew the horrors he saw except for a few, a band of brothers. Greatness is not always born out of doing well in great events. Most of the time it is born out of doing the most commonplace things to the best of your ability over the balance of your life and hoping it was enough to impact another’s life.

My Uncle John’s legacy continues on through his children, me, my writing, and through the living that hear the retelling of his life.

In loving memory:

John Lee Eubanks

December 23, 1920 to April 27, 1997

506e PIR, 101^st Infantry Division, USA

“Easy Company”

http://www.506infantry.org/

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Essays: The Making Of A Christian Nation

A Christian Nation … A nation can never be a ‘christian.’ The legal entity called a ‘nation’ is not a being. The head of a ‘state’ is not that ‘state’ either. A nation or the state was not made in the image and likeness of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; nor can they ever be. A nation can however be made up of christians, and the governance of the same by christians.

Therefore, for a nation to be christian its citizen membership must be christian. And for its citizen membership to be christian they must be examples of the Christ who is Jesus, son of Mary, son of God, Messiah as prophesied.

To understand what the above two paragraphs mean, one must understand what is a ‘christian.’ The Judeo-Christian Bible states that it was in Antioch that those who followed Jesus the Crucified and Resurrected Christ were first called ‘christian’ – from the Greek, one who is like the anointed.

From a slur to a badge of honor, the moniker ‘christian’ has stuck as a name to all of those who follow Jesus Christ as savior and as lord.

To follow after Jesus truly, one must walk with Him to the cross and die: die to sin, die to self. After the cross came life. All those who believe accept in their heart that at the cross their every sin [acts of separation from God the Father] were put on trial, condemned to death, and laid upon Jesus who took on our separation and just punishment that we might live. Jesus took upon himself our sin, our shame, our just punishment, and died that He might overcome sin, death, and the grave to be Lord of All. On the third day He arose in His flesh, resurrected mortal flesh to put on immortality. He ascended to the Father to finish the sacrifice and to take His place in Heaven. He returned to Earth to confirm His witness that all of these things had been done just as the prophets of old had said. He walked among us 40 more days then was ascended to His place at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. He did not leave us orphans but gave us His Holy Spirit at Pentacost – a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of Fire.

To each who walks in the fullness of what Jesus sacrificed all to give, to them has been given the power to save the nations for Christ Jesus. To them has been given the power to change nations one person at a time until the whole nation walks with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. To them has been given the power to convert nations into a Christian Nation. Amen.

[Also posted at the group A Christian Nation here.]

© 2008 Dave Doc Rogers

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