OUR JULY DEVOTION, PART 3

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Words From a Soldier
This is our Independence Day/ July devotion. As most of you know, this is the month we celebrate the “4th of July”, our country’s birthday, our county’s God given victory for independence.
As we all know, our freedom God has blessed us with, “WAS NOT FREE”…………….
Literally thousands and thousands have and are still shedding their blood or sacrificing their lives so we might continue to have the freedom so many take for granted.
On a monthly basis there are many, many men and women being deployed somewhere, to serve their country in some way. Every one of these soldiers are some ones husband or wife, some ones mom or dad, some ones son or daughter. They are a special someone to someone. For many of these men, when they are deployed, in most cases, they must leave their families regardless of where they are in life. They leave prepared for the worst, and yet praying and hoping for the best.
Our family has the privilege of attending church with one of these special soldiers and his wonderful family. His name is Mike Pendley. Some of you reading this know who he is and some don’t. He was deployed to Iraq more than a year ago and thankfully the Lord saw fit to return him safely home, this past May. When he left, he left a sweet wife(She was taking care of her dear terminally ill mother. She met Jesus about a month before bro Mike came home), a son, daughter-in-love, and his first and only precious grandchild(he could not be here for her first birthday). When he left, his only daughter was months away from getting married and his youngest son was months away from graduating from high school.
He could only pray to return home in time to see his son receive his diploma, the last part of May, and to give his daughter away in marriage in June. We are thankful God allowed him to return home in time for both.
For those who don’t really know what life is like for one of our soldiers, I asked bro Mike if I could interview him for a small look into who and what he is as an American solider, and his thoughts on some other issues. He graciously allowed me to do so. I chose to print this interview in a question/answer format.

What branch are you in and what is your rank? Army National Guard/ CW2(Chief Warrant Officer 2)

How long have you been in the Army National Guard? 29 yrs. (bro Mike is in his early fifties, so he has made a life career out of serving his country)

What is the most difficult part of your job? mentally-dealing with certain soldiers,
physically- physical training, emotionally- separation of family

While in Iraq, what was the most difficult to deal with? Separation from family and church family

When our soldiers are on deployment to their different destinations, what is the best way the average American citizen can support them? Send them cards, care packages, any type of
correspondence.



Being who you are, going where you have gone, seeing what you have seen, how do you think it would change the hearts of Americans concerning God, our nation, and probably much more, if they could walk a mile in your shoes? It would give us a greater love and appreciation for where we live, our freedoms we are blessed with, and our God who chose to bless us with it all.

So many people have lost their sense of patriotic spirit and have forgotten as a US citizen, they have a duty to be the best citizen they can be for all who are concerned. Can you give me some thoughts on what one could consider to regain our American pride and high sense of duty to God and our country? People need to learn, however they can, what life is like for a soldier, his family and the sacrifices they must make. Sometimes the sacrifices occur on a daily basis. It would be a learning experience, and worth our time and effort, just to have an idea of the price of our freedom.
Thank you again bro Mike for your help with this. It was most appreciated.










As I have said earlier, my family has the privilege of attending church with his family. I believe we have only a small idea of what he and his family deal with, as his heart has remained faithful to God and his calling to remain in the military and make sacrifice after sacrifice, for all of us. I have heard his wife say, she and her family would not have made it as well as they have, if it were not for the tremendous support of their church family. I know she and her family have been blessed many times, in many different ways, by different loving and caring members of our church. Our dear and precious pastor and his wife were never an exception to this. They not once, wavered in showing their love and support for bro Mike and His family.
If you attend church with or at least know of someone in the service, I encourage you to thank them/their family, for their many sacrifices, for us and this nation. A hand shake and “thank you” is the least we can give them for what they and God have blessed us with.