CONVERSATION WITH A WAR VETERAN

God Shows Up Unexpectedly and Uses Us.

I was riding with a bunch of people on a fundraiser run which ended at a bar. As I was sitting there chugging a bottle of water, the older guy to my left looked really sad. "Things that bad, huh?" I asked him. He, for some reason, opened up and began to tell me that he had recently attended the funeral of his wife, who died from a debilitating disease. Before I could offer my condolences, he said, "I just keep thinking over and over how the preacher kept saying that we should rejoice for her because we will see her again in Heaven when it's our time to go there.... and I know that I won't EVER see her again because I went to war and I KILLED people, which is against one of the ten commandments!" I could just make out the trace of a tear forming in the corner of his eye.

I said, "Now, just wait a minute. The Bible tells us that we are to respect those in authority and follow their orders, and that is what you were doing. You were ordered there by your Commander-in-Chief and the chain of command to go into that nightmare and FIGHT, which is respecting authority. The Bible also says "Thou shall not commit MURDER" which is vastly different from killing, because murder involves premeditation, and if you were out there in a "kill or be killed" type of situation, you did it for your survival, and NOT for your enjoyment or convenience.”

I continued, “God Loves YOU SO MUCH that NOTHING can keep you from Him except for Your free will. Our God is BIGGER than any sin that we could EVER commit, and if You will come to the Saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and sincerely accept Him as Your Lord and Savior and ask Him for His forgiveness and believe that He really did live and die on that cross and was resurrected and ascended to heaven as a final atonement for all of mankind's sins, then all will be forgiven and he will remember your sins no more, he will even will take it away as far as the east is from the west!”

The man looked me in the eye and said, "Wow! I have NEVER heard it explained quite like that before... I feel like I have had a TON of bricks lifted off of my shoulders! Thank You!! Oh Thank You!!” I said, "Thank the Lord for His Love and Grace, Brother... not me.. I only told You what I know!" At this point, people started coming over and interrupting us, and the conversation turned to other things. He ordered another drink and walked away.

Later on, on the way to the ladies' room, I gave him a "This Was Your Life" Chick tract and asked him if he would take it home, and when he had the quiet time to REALLY absorb what it says, to please read it, it might just make some things clearer for him. He told me that he would, and thanked me again. I then headed out the door and pointed the front wheel towards home. I Pray that he actually did read it and came to know Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior.

I thank the Lord that He used my mind and lips here, because I could not have come up with all that on my own!! Needless to say, when I got home I opened up my Bible and found out that I was WRONG - My Bible actually DOES say 'KILL' instead of 'MURDER' in the ten commandments!! I guess that the scriptures pertaining to the cities of safe haven must have been at the back of my mind or something... I really did not know my Bible real well back then when this happened... (I still have a LONG way to go even now), but the Lord opened my mouth which served His purpose. Seriously! At that point in time, at the end of a long day of riding my Harley over a hundred miles on a hot and humid day, I was thirsty and exhausted and am surprised that I could even think straight, let alone speak God's Word on such a SERIOUS subject!

Which now makes me wonder... I wonder if it actually DID say 'murder' in the original Hebrew...?

I just HAD to look it up. I took my Keyword Study Bible and found the ten commandments, and looked up the corresponding number of "kill" in Exodus 20:13, which is number 7523 in the Hebrew section of the Strong's Concordance. Here is the definition that I found:

7523. ratsach (raw-tsakh'); a prim. root; prop. to dash in pieces, i.e. kill (a human ein), espec to murder: - put to death, kill, (man-) slay (-er), murder (-er).

Oh wow!! I guess I wasn't that far off base, after all!! This just proves that God will use our lips when the time is right, and HE KNOWS more than WE *think* we do!! Thank You Father God in the Name of Jesus! Amen!

Next: The Carpet Fish