Posted on 04/07/2003 3:08:56 PM PDT by Dubya
COMFORT, Texas (BP)--The parents of a dead American soldier are taking comfort knowing their son accepted Christ and was baptized days before he was killed.
Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, was one of the soldiers found dead during the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch. He had been listed as missing in action since their convoy, part of the 507th Maintenance Company based in Fort Bliss, Texas, was ambushed.
For days his parents in the small town of Comfort, Texas, had hoped their son would come home alive. Upon word of his death, they were reassured knowing he had been saved before going off to battle. Kiehl's baptism was videotaped by a television crew and broadcast on a Texas TV station.
"It has been a tremendous help to them -- that James had made a decision for Christ and followed Him with baptism," said Jim Holt, pastor of Comfort Baptist Church, where the Kiehls attend.
The news has lifted the spirits of the entire church, Holt said. While preaching March 30, the pastor alluded to the stories of soldiers who were accepting Christ "and how thrilling it was that men and women out serving their country were also making decisions about serving Christ."
At the time, Hold did not know that James Kiehl -- who was then listed as missing in action -- was one of those soldiers. After the sermon, Kiehl's parents, Randy and Jane Kiehl, told Holt the good news.
"I let some members of my church know that, and of course the whole church was excited," Holt told Baptist Press.
The videotape was a welcome tonic to a video Randy Kiehl had seen days earlier. A Middle East television station had broadcast footage of dead American soldiers, and Randy Kiehl had found the footage on the Internet. He thought he saw his son's body.
"I cannot overstate how important it has been to this family to have that video of their son being baptized, and how that can replace in their minds the image of their son's body," Holt said.
Kiehl had dreamed of being in the Army since he was a young boy. In middle school and high school, he befriended one of Comfort Baptist's deacons who is retired from the military. The deacon would visit the school, and Kiehl would follow him around, Holt said.
"He said, 'James treated me like a hero because I had served in the Army.' James was doing what he wanted to do," Holt said. "All through school he could not wait to get out of school and join the Army."
Kiehl's wife, Jill, is pregnant with their first child, according to WHO-TV in Des Moines, Iowa, where her parents live. He was a member of the high school's marching band and basketball team. He was also tall -- 6-foot-8, the television station reported.
"He was a quiet boy and very private," Holt told Baptist Press.
Kiehl had given Jill two teddy bears before he was deployed, USA Today reported. One was for her, the other for their unborn son. He also gave her a recorder with a message from him so that their son could hear his voice, the newspaper said.
A lasting moment Spc. James Kiehl of Comfort, Texas, and his wife, Jill, share one last moment together just prior to his deployment in February from Fort Bliss, Texas. The Pentagon identified Kiehl as one of the soldiers found dead during the rescue of an American POW in Iraq last week.
My mindreading skills are a little rusty, so I don't have a clue. Why don't you just tell us?
BTW, there was a derogatory thread on FR the other day about soldiers being baptised. Now we see that it was indeed timely and appropriate. Thank God this young man made his choice to serve Christ when he did.
My husband never left stateside. One is taken, and one is spared. Makes you pause and think.
I am so sorry that he was killed, but I'm very glad that he made the decision to join the Body of Christ before his death. I know that is a "blessed assurance" for his family.
How sad that he was killed. He was a very wise man to make the choise to be a Christian.
McKenzie read the pamphlet and said: “It says, ‘which side are ye on?”
“Well, sir,” said the young soldier, “I want to be on the side of Jesus, but I dinnae ken how?”
Opening his Bible the chaplain read some of the great and precious promises of Christ, and thus James McGregor found the Lord. The following night the young man returned to receive instructions about prayer, and how to study his Bible. It was a far happier young trooper from Scotland who left the chaplain’s tent. The young soldier was positively happy and aglow, promising to write and inform his mother back home that her prayers had indeed been answered. Sadly, the very next day, Chaplain McKenzie stumbled across the boy’s mangled body in no-man’s land. He had been killed in a futile charge on the Turkish trenches. His body was only recognisable by the letter to his mother- informing her of his decision made the night before, to accept Jesus as his Lord- still in his uniform pocket. Mac retrieved the letter, and mailed it on to the boy’s mother in Scotland."
Fighting Mckenzie : Anzac Chaplain, by Colin Stringer
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