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David in Combat Boots at Cornerstone

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Dear Friends,

"I just got off the plane yesterday from Iraq, and I return in about two weeks," he said. I replied,"Wow!" He and Logan than began a long conversation about Iraq with a lot of military jargon I could not understand.

David went on to say, "It seems sometimes you just can't get throgh to some people, and you just have to take them out. One of the guys under my command just won't listen. He is so angry at losing his buddies that he just wants to take out every Iraqi he sees. I have talked and talked to him and I just can't get him to stop that."

Logan responded,"You know, some times rhetoric just does not work; you just have to act. When we took Sammarh in Iraq, my buddy entered the Iraqi police station without resistance because they were on our side. But he was so angry at losing his buddies that he slapped the Iraqi police captain in the face and hit him in the gut. Do you know what I did? I just put myself in front of my buddy and said, 'ËœDo that to me.' He looked at me and just kind of melted; I could see in his eye that I had gotten to him. I just had to put my body on the line. Words were useless. I don't say that is what you should do, you have to decide that. But in such intense situations, words are almost useless to communicate the Gospel."

What immediately came to my mind was Jesus' refusal to answer his accusers in his trial. He had to go the way of the cross for us people to understand what he was trying to say. I understand Jesus' not responding in a new way now. This has helped me see that at times in my interactions, I need to act and not talk.

It was a holy thirty minutes or so with David, such that it moved us all to pray together for a number of minutes while we held hands. Then during two rounds of hugs, we told David we would be praying for his safety, and we reluctantly parted.

Give thanks for this and the many opportunities to share at such deep levels at the Cornerstone Festival. Say a prayer this all would be a part of bringing justice, mercy, truth, and peace to us and the whole world. Please also pray for our interactions at our County Fair CPT Booth coming up on August 22-26.

Peace,

Jim




Here I am explaining some of our literature to an interested woman at the Cornerstone Christian Music Festival. I did this so much that at the end I found myself getting hoarse. The interest in our alternative to war was very encouraging. Several people shared that they have been encouraged from reading my letters over the last years. Thank you for your prayer and financial support that has enabled me to do this peacemaking. 135 people signed up to receive our messages.
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