The Difference a Day Makes

31“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6: 31-34 (NKJV)


After believing I had ironed out all the details of posting my new blog, of course I would have some problems with it the next day. It seemed everything was working against me so I decided to wait until tomorrow to fix the problem. The problem with waiting until tomorrow is that tomorrow has its own problems without adding today's to it.

That's how I approached my day yesterday, until I got the call. You know the call I am talking about. The one you get in the middle of the night, or the one when you least expect it, when things seem to be going your way. That's the phone call I'm talking about.

What made this call different was that it was not about one of my children. It was from a church member. The caller told me that David Wright's youngest brother Lance Corporal Terry Wright, serving in Death Valley, Afghanistan, was on duty and shot by a snipers bullet in the head and died instantly. It changed the complexion of my whole day.

This day brought trouble. It was the kind of trouble that affects not only the immediate family, but the church famiy, the community family, and the family of past, present, and future serving Marines as well. You see, Terry is a Marine. Not was...Is. Even in death, he Is.

If you ever get the opportunity to sit down and watch a movie that will strike you to the core of your emotions, watch the movie "Taking Chance". This great movie follows the circuit of a marine from the time he is killed in action until his day of burial. If this movie does not strike your emotional and patriotic cords, you have none. It is a movie well worth your time seeing.
Especially now.

As soon as I learned of Terry's death, I began to associate Terry with the steps I saw in the movie. It was hard not to be moved when I thought of how his body was being honored, even in death, by the people who cared for him as he was being prepared for his long journey home.

The last information I heard, his brother Adam, also a Marine, and his mother was going to Dover Air Force Base (Delaware) to identify the body and then fly home with them to the Akron-Canton Airport on Friday. No other details were available last evening. I will keep you all posted.

Pray for the Wright family. They not only need your prayers and support, the church family and community will need that same support. Pray for the troops that are still in harms way not just in Afghanistan but all over our world and at home too. They have had to grow up all too soon. So, pray for their safety, pray for their needs, pray for the family they left behind, pray for the liberties they protect, and pray that through all of the turmoil, death and destruction that they find the living Christ. They want and covet your prayers because, as they find out all too soon, you never know what difference a day will make.

We are praying for you and your family David. May God reach out through His Holy Spirit and comfort you all and encourage you through His peace. Amen.

Pastor Chuck