I just dropped my friend Tim off at the airport. He spent the weekend with us and we had fun. We played games, had a BBQ, worshiped together, prayed together and just talked. But I just dropped him at the airport. And when he walked away from me in his desert camouflage uniform, my heart grew heavy.
You see, Tim is an Army captain deployed to Iraq. He just spent two weeks on leave with his wife and kids and in-laws. Beth (his wife) is from northern New Hampshire. So she flew in from Arizona. He flew in from Iraq. And on the day after we celebrate our independence, they found each other again at Manchester Airport.
Regardless of the position on the war, you should spend a weekend with Tim. This godly man, who loves his country also loves and cares for the Iraqi people. He speaks of his fellow soldiers from Britain, Iraq and the United States as if they were his brothers. And he talks of the men he leads and his desire to do right by them. Tim puts a face on the war in Iraq that the media outlets don’t.
You should spend a weekend with Tim.
Anyway, while we enjoy the comforts of home in the summer and bemoan the high gas prices and soaring electric bills (due to the AC), Tim will be in a far off land facing 120 degree temperatures and very real weapons aimed at him, hoping for a direct hit; all the while with an optimism and commitment that we all should have.
You should spend a weekend with Tim.
And when we can’t decide whether or not to go to church because of some other summer fun event, Tim may just be plugging in his CD player and then popping in one of the dozen or so CDs of our worship services at the Community Chapel Church of the Nazarene that he left here with; and in his own way he will be coming to our church and worshipping, while sitting in a place where his worship opportunities are limited and his family can’t enjoy the privilege of worshipping in a church together. Why? Because Tim, above all else, is so radically committed to Jesus and his church and its mission. He knows that without the church in his life he is not complete. And without his involvement in the kingdom life of the church, the church itself is incomplete.
You should spend a weekend with Tim.
So, I am praying for my friend Tim. I still see him, with his pack slung over his back, walking into the safety of Manchester Airport. Eventually, in four days he will end up in the insecurity of a whole different world. But I have renewed confidence in God’s work in his life and mine and am so very grateful soldiers like Captain Tim Carignan are serving in places like Iraq. Come home soon, brother. I miss you.
I am so glad I spent the weekend with Tim.