I remember like it was yesterday when World War II was over. First, Germany was defeated. Japan's defeat followed months later. I sold "extras" up and down the streets of Fort Smith, Arkansas, yelling "War Over" (That was the headline) People could hear me because their windows were open in the days before air conditioning. There were no TV's for them to be listening to.I sold a lot of newspapers that day.
Yesterday it was announced that the war in Iraq was ended and troops would be home by Christmas. This war which strung out over eight years, cost more than 4,000 lives of our service people. Thirty-eight thousand others bear the scars of battle. In financial cost it was estimated at 1.3 trillion dollars. There were NO weapons of mass destruction. There is no stable government. There are no parading crowds in Iraq wishing us well. Saddam is gone but will probably be replaced by another in years to come. Another war has been fought without a clear victory. At the same time another deadly one goes on in the isolated mountains and cities of Afghanistan.
Here at home there is no horn-honking and dancing in the streets. Another war to enter our history books that are filled with them.
As we approach a season of Thanksgiving and Christmas we will know that peace only comes through the Prince of Peace as he lives in our lives.
I was part of a peace-keeping army in Germany ten years after the last shot was fired. We were there, not to control Germany from becoming another Hitler-controlled country, but to guard the borders from an attack from Russia who had been an ally in the war! In TEN years an ally had become a feared enemy. Nuclear missiles dotted the countryside in secrecy. It was strange and frightening. Today, troops are still located in Korea more than FIFTY years after the fact.
I guess there will always be wars or rumors of wars. Peace can only be found in our inner being as we acknowledge the Prince of Peace as Lord.
The only horn-honking we will hear is from happy football or baseball fans. Strange isn't it?
