Prayer Request

This Wednesday I drive my son to an appointment.  The trip is 14.4 miles and it takes 20 years.  I am taking my son to the Navy Recruiting office, from there they will take him to Jacksonville, do a lot of paper work, then it’s off to Great Lakes Naval Training Center for Navy boot camp.  As I write this he is in his room packing his belongings into boxes and tying up loose ends. 

Twenty years ago I knew this day would come.  There have been times that I felt like I wanted this day to get here.  Every parent of a high-spirited, strong-willed teen understands that.  Every waking moment and many sleeping ones are invaded by memories of this life we have shared.

He has aspirations to join the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team, more commonly known as Seals.  For the last year he has been preparing and training for this goal, reading, swimming, exercising.  To help train he does this thing called a Murph

where you run a mile, do 100 pull-ups, 200 sit-ups, 300 air squats and then run another mile all while wearing a 20-pound weight vest.  He really wants to join a Seal team.  The attrition rate for the Seals is extremely high.  Many want to, only a few actually do.  I am exceedingly proud of him whether he makes UDT or not. 

Over the last year we have had a lot of conversations about why he wanted to do this.  There were the typical answers: love of country, to be part of something special, to learn new disciplines, to learn what he was made of, adventure.  But one answer stood out for me.  One night he said, “I am a single guy without wife or kids.  I don’t have even a girl friend.  By my going and doing this I can allow some father and husband to be with his wife and kids safe at home.”  Willing to endure hardship, risk safety and the possibility of death so some kids he has never met can have their dad safe at home.

He is a long, long, long way from being a Seal and the odds are against him.  But that heart reflects the heart of another.  Years ago this same boy accepted the gift of grace and became a follower of Christ.  The Christ who said, “By my doing this you can be safe at home with your Father.”  I am proud of that boy because he is reflecting the heart of his Savior.

Please pray for us all.  Pray for peace on earth-nothing motivates that prayer like having a family member in the military.  Pray for his mom and me as we say good- bye to our youngest and return home to a house empty for the first time in almost three decades.  We need God’s guidance for the next phase of our lives.  But most of all pray for my son as he pursues a life of self sacrifice and that God will place him in the exact spot in the Navy where his light can shine brightest.