THREE CHEERS FOR OUR WONDERFUL TROOPS, THEIR ALLIES, AND ALL WHO ARE SERVING IN SUPPORT CAPACITIES IN THE WAR ON TERROR! YOU HAVE GIVEN THIS NATION A YEAR OF VICTORY IN THAT WAR! The honor is yours, but know that we bask in your accomplishments and love you for your steadfast service on this day!

Welcome, everyone to the 10th Troop Prayer Thread! Today is the anniversary of the resumption of hostilities with Iraq, wherein our troops have made military history that shall ring down the centuries.

The troop prayer threads are dedicated to giving our troops, allies, and all who are serving the Holy Cause of Freedom, including (but not limited to) the families and loved ones waiting at home and those who are not in uniform but who are serving in dangerous situations supporting our troops and gathering intelligence spiritual support. We seek together to offer prayer, scriptures, encouraging messages, and other devotions dedicated to this purpose.

We have over the past year gathered together a prayer list of these servants of freedom. You will find it posted below. FReeper amom has been serving as our List Keeper this past year and I wish to thank and commend her for doing such a meticulous job of keeping it updated. She has also been keeping our ping list up to date. If you wish to submit a name for the prayer list or to add or take off a name from the ping list, please let either or both of us know.

For those of us who have somewhat limited computer capacity, or still have phone modems, we request that graphics be limited to pictures of loved ones for whom we are offering prayers, special visuals that seem particularly appropriate, and as much as possible, non-moving graphics. Thank you.

Thank you so much for spiritually supporting our troops, allies, support civilians, and their families.

We are grateful to God that for those who have been injured or taken back Home, He has dispatched angels to their care.

Troop Prayer Thread 8:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/994696/posts?page=451,50

Troop Prayer Thread 6:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/917197/posts?page=301,50

Troop Prayer Thread 3:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/873600/posts?page=151,50

For those who wish to pay their respects and honor our Fallen Heroes, please visit this thread:

Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me remember
Somewhere out there
A man died for me today
--As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?"

Taken from the book, "A Man Called Intrepid" by William Stevenson about William Stephenson, the head of British intelligence services prior to and during WWII. He wrote this at the very beginnings of the Battle of Britain and shared it with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

AMERICA, WE LOVE YOU!
AMERICA, WE LOVE YOU!
AMERICA, WE LOVE YOU!
AND OUR LOVE IS GREAT ENOUGH TO HOLD YOU ETERNALLY VICTORIOUS IN THE LIGHT!

Hey, I didn't even know this thread was here..

August 28, 2004

A Time To Cry

Read: John 11:1-7,32-36

Jesus wept. —John 11:35

Bible In One Year: Psalms 123-125; 1 Corinthians 10:1-18

My father (Richard De Haan) had been battling a debilitating disease for many years. We asked the Lord to take him home. But as I knelt by his bed and watched him take that last breath, the tears I had choked back on other occasions came out like a flood. As my brothers and my mother hugged and prayed, the finality was overwhelming.

That event helped me understand the significance of the shortest verse in the Bible: "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). God the Son wept! He knew the reality of heaven. He was the source of all hope of a future day of resurrection. And yet, Jesus cried. He loved His friends Mary and Martha and Lazarus so much that "He groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (v.33). Jesus truly felt their heartache.

When someone we love dies, we struggle with a wide range of emotions. If a young person dies, we ask "Why?" When death comes after long-term suffering, we struggle to understand why the Lord waited so long to bring relief. We begin to think of God as distant, untouched by our sorrow. We may question His wisdom or His goodness. Then we read, "Jesus wept." God is deeply touched by our anguish.

When a painful situation invades your life, remember the Bible's shortest verse. Jesus shed tears too. —Kurt De Haan

One year ago today, Kurt De Haan,
managing editor of Our Daily Bread for 13 years,
was reunited with his father when God called him Home.
(March 29, 1953-August 28, 2003)

If you doubt that Jesus cares, remember His tears.

CALL TO PRAYER!!

From our own heylady:

"Please pray for the brave soldiers of the 1-7 Cav, Ft Hood , who lost two of their own last week . And we cannot forget their just as brave wives who are also in need of our prayers. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for them waiting back home for word of their husbands. The 1-7 has been there 5 months now with most likely another 7 months to go..a long time for young lovers to be apart. Pray that their love for each other stays strong through this difficult period."

Beloved Heavenly Father,

We place on the altar all of our troops and those wearing or supporting the military uniform of the USA, but this day we especially bring to your notice the men and women of the 1-7 Cav out of Ft Hood who have lost two of their own. Father, those of us who have not experienced it can only imagine the loss of those who will no longer be seeing their young comrades and heroes.

We ask that you will surround this unit of fighting men and women. Sustain them with your courage and love. Protect them with your own arms and with legions of your angels. Grant them perfect concentration so that when they are in danger they may not be distracted or blunted by the grief that can dull the mind and heart. We ask that you will grant each of them strength and endurance for the sacrifices to which their pledged duty has asked of them. Let each one fulfill to the highest standards they hold for themselves the obligations which they have so graciously taken on in our name. Let your Presence be tangible among them. Let them know that they are loved and honored and appreciated by their countrymen back home. Let them know how special they are to us. Let them know that we have surrendered them into your care and keeping and have total faith that you will be with them each step of the way. Help the time that they are in harm's way seem to fly quickly by rather than crawl by like an eternity.

Father, we ask that you will take those whom you have called Home to a very special place in your Heaven. Surround and comfort the families and loved ones who are left behind. Help them through the grieving process in such a way that at the end of it their faith is strengthened rather than diminished. Help them find moments of joy and pride during the bleak days of grief. Please somehow convey directly into the hearts of these loved ones the high esteem which their countrymen hold them and the Ones they loved. Let them somehow receive into their hearts the love and comfort we wish we could give them.

Father, furthermore, we pray together the words of William Stephenson, the head of British Intelligence during WWII:

Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me remember
Somewhere out there
A man died for me today
--As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?*

Father, let us truly live our lives in such a way that those who are now in your Heaven waiting for us will greet us when we see them with the words, "you were worth it."
Help us live good and noble lives so as to honor these who sacrificed so very much for us. We can not repay them, but we can surely honor them. Father, please help us to do that much.

We ask that you will enfold all who are at home holding vigil for their young hero in harm's way. Grant the wives, husbands, children, parents, siblings, and all loved ones peace and joy during their time of Waiting. Grant each of the Waiting Ones an adequate support system. Help them to somehow know that their countrymen DO know that they who Wait also serve and sacrifice. God, our very Present Father, bless these families. Hold their hands and let their heroes come home safe and victorious.

Amen

* This prayer by William Stephenson is found in a book about him by (no relation) William Stevenson entitled "A Man Called Intrepid." Stephenson gave a copy of this prayer to Eleanor Roosevelt, who carried it around in her purse. It was written at the dawn of the Battle of Britain. It is a remarkable book about the behind the scenes actions of those who served in Intelligence and Covert operations during WWII. I highly recommend it.

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