The War Has Come Home 8-23-06

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The War Has Come Home I just returned to the couch from checking on my sleeping little boy. My little boy who is so in love with his daddy right now...he thinks his daddy is the smartest, coolest, toughest, funnest guy in the entire world. When Jon gets home from work, Landon is literally at the door waiting with a list a mile long of all the fun things he wants to do with his daddy...and only with his daddy. Last evening I learned of one little boy who won't get to know his daddy. Gabriel DeRoo, a classmate of mine, an old boyfriend of mine...a friend of mine...was killed in Iraq Sunday. It was a gunshot to the neck that took this only son, loving husband, and daddy to one eight month old little boy. For so long the war has seemed so remote to me. Yes, it has implications here at home, but I had not been personally touched by it. I fear for those friends of mine that serve our country and I pray for them, but beyond that...it was just something I sided with the President on. But last night, and today again as more news pored in...as I watched his dad on the news tonight crying and reminiscing of days gone by when Gabe would push his plastic mower next to his dad, the war hit my heart with a bombshell. I mourn with and for his parents and sisters. They are believers and gave a very clear testimony of that tonight on the news, but you can hear and see the pain that is ripping at their souls. I absolutely ache for his wife. I cannot even begin to understand the pain, the emptiness, the void she must feel. I have prayed for her so many times, and I usually just ask the Lord to comfort her in a way that I cannot understand, to touch her in tangible ways, and to perhaps, maybe make some sort of sense for her out of this seemingly senseless death. And I weep for their son. He will be a year old in December. He will never know his dad. He will not play hide and seek and monster, will not push his play mower next to Gabe, and will not ever get to experience the bond that I have the privilege of witnessing every day between my husband and son. Yes, I absolutely ache for them. At first, this all seemed a distant reality to me. I could not grasp it. I went to three banquets with Gabe (banquets were our Christian school version of prom). I have pictures with him and memories. Far beyond the dates we went on, he was a very intricate part of our 19 person class. We did not know it then, but we were all so close, knit together by our common experiences and memories. I can hear his laugh, see his smile. Even today as I called classmates to inform them and as I learned more details of what happened, the reality of the situation just did not hit me. But tonight it did. On the 11pm news they had a small tribute to Gabe...his mom and dad, sisters, pictures of his wife and son, and at the very end of the tribute came the most unbelievable turn of events. His wife received flowers today...probably from dozens of people, but she also received flowers from Gabe. Yes, he sent her flowers from Iraq on Saturday...the day before his death...she received them today. If no one sacrificed their lives, their wives and family...we would not be America. Gabe's death does not make sense to me, but often the most self-sacrificing choices don't make sense because they go against the grain of human selfishness and limited perspective on life, as though it is all for the here and now. I definitely fall into that trap. The fact of the matter is that those who choose to be soldiers, to defend and protect our country, and beyond that, my freedom and the safety of my family...I salute you in a completely new and different way today. I think the choice that you have made, and the sacrifices that you, and in so many ways, your wife and child/children have made are beacons of light shining forth a few rays of selflessness and self-sacrifice in a world filled with the darkness of selfishness. While we sit home and fret about not having babysitters so we can go out to dinner, you say goodbye for a year on end, never knowing if the year will ever end. I applaud you and I honor you and I thank you. Gabe's death was not senseless, he died for a cause. Please pray for his wife and son, her name is Hannah and his son is named Gabriel (I have never met either of them). All I know is that the flowers and note she received today from her dead husband probably literally knocked her to the ground, and she is going to need the hand of God to lift her up again. Gabriel knew the Lord as his Savior, and is now enjoying the life that we were made for...the eternal one. Praise God for that.