What I learned from my son

Our son Peter just returned from Marjah Afghanistan, he is with the 3rd Battalion 6th Marines. We went to Camp Lejeune to meet him. The 8 ½ months he has been in Afghanistan has been difficult. We received no letters, and didn’t get a phone call for 3 months. We prayed for him and his unit and watched the news for reports about Marjah. Peter is the baby of the family. When he was 4 he would wander off constantly, (we had to put a leash on him at Disneyland), and he definitely worried his mother. Like the time his sisters were taking him to the bathroom at our pool club, (or so my wife thought), then she sees something floating on the water. It was our 2 year old son with just his mouth out of the water in the deep end! Or the time he dove off the diving board when he was 3 and landed on the concrete on his head, (that would be a precursor to when he jumped off our roof into our pool). Needless to say Peter tested our patience and our sanity. So we really wondered about what we would see and hear when we went to Camp Lejeune. When I walked up to his barracks I saw a few Marines getting ready to embark on their 96 hour leave. I asked if anyone knew Martin. They looked at me suspiciously and asked “who are you sir?” I told them I was his dad and they smiled and asked if I was the one that sent them the 39 care packages (my breakfast club sent them to his unit). They were obviously pleased with the contents! His platoon sergeant offered to take me to his room. I asked him about how it went in Marjah. He told me that it was tough, but not as bad as his first tour in Iraq “the equipment is better now”. He told me that some of the guys had it worse than others and that my son had seen a lot of action. When we got to his room the sergeant said “tell your dad about your souvenir”! Then he proceeded to tell me that Peter had been shot! The bullet went through his optical, hit his grenade and then pierced his body armor on his chest. He also got some shrapnel in his hand. We learned later that this and other close call experiences increased his faith. He told us that he now understands Gods’ grace and love for us and that it has changed his heart concerning other people. He has become much more gracious and compassionate. He told us his heart broke for the girls in Afghanistan. In that culture they are allowed to talk to you until they are 5 or 6. Then they aren’t allowed to talk to men and begin the process of wearing the burka. They are married before they are teenagers. The men are allowed 4 wives and a temporary wife for an hour (then they divorce her), such a deal. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, but it also guarantees freedom of speech, and we have the right to examine the merits of all religion. The contrast between Christianity and Islam could not be more pronounced when it comes to women. The process of equal rights for women would not have happened in an Islamic society. Western civilization was shaped by Christianity, this includes the passage in Galatians 3 where it says that “in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek (race), slave nor free (class) male nor female (sex) for you are all one in Christ!” What I learned from my son reinforced my belief that we serve a God of compassion and that in Christ we are free!