As a Soldier of more than 20 years now, and a veteran of combat, and a Lutheran. The best officer I ever met was a Lutheran commanding an armored infantry battalion during the Gulf War; he was responsible for the destruction of a great many armored vehicles and the crews therein. To this day a great many of us Soldiers, nearly all veterans now, still keep in touch with him and would follow him to hell if given the opportunity. He was a leader in the truest sense of the word, and a brother in Christ. We all wanted his approval. He was always in the front of the action, at the tip of the spear.

My faith was never challenged during war, I'd say that my faith served me well and I am thankful for the opportunity to have gone to war a few times. As a very young man I had to accept my mortality and prepare myself for what we thought then were going to be very high casualties - thankfully they never materialized, but when asked I return the question and ask them to try and imagine sitting on death row with an execution date set on the calendar. Living with that date hanging over your head. The day comes, you go to the execution room, get strapped in, hood pulled over your head. Sitting there alone waiting to die, and then there's a commotion; someone comes in pulls your hood off and says "you're free to go."

Nowhere else would I have seen the hand of God move so dynamically, and profound. There are things that happened that I cannot explain but I accept them for what they are to me: miracles. I have felt the deeply powerful presence of the awesome and perfect love of Jesus, it choked my voice, gave me goosebumps, and tears flowed like a river. I KNEW that Jesus was physically beside me - there is no other explanation for it. I was floored by the enormity of Him. And when you KNOW he was right there, any doubt you may have ever had is gone forever. I realize that not everyone gets to have such an experience. I'm lucky, blessed even. I feel sadness for those that have doubt, those that deny God's majesty or have never had the blessing of that experience.

When you feel that goodness, all powerful, all knowing, you just want to stay right there. All is right.

I believe, not because I was baptized, raised and confirmed as a Lutheran. But because Jesus is a real person to me. I wonder, "why me?" What is my purpose and do I deserve it?