"Scarred..........................."

Ernie Pyle was a WWII correspondent who, having survived the front lines in both world arenas for nearly five years, was killed on Okinawa by a sniper’s bullet. On his body was found a column meant to be released once the Allies achieved total victory and in it he expresses what stays in a man’s mind having “been there”. It’s pretty visual in content. Battle, no doubt, scars memories forever, leaving images that cannot be erased. Truth is, though, that there are many other ways human identity can be damaged to such extremes. Carnage isn’t restricted to combat. Who we are wasn’t determined with any sort of manuscript, our story written before it ever even happened. Life, from Eden forward, is a walk through a minefield, God’s anchor-line severed giving birth to a virus in our midst, an epidemic of major proportion, and our own vanity killing us as we go. Environment, history, and circumstance all play a part in the production as a whole. If some would dismiss luck in any form or fashion, I find such reasoning in need of further discussion. The future splits into infinite possibilities and evolves through a myriad of factors that our brain can’t even begin to contemplate. Even with the reality of Christ “in” me, we yet maintain “steerage” through our own head and things “happen”. Reconnection extends an oasis located at an inner depth on a lower level, a place providing us with peace, purpose, and promise in the middle of chaos; but how often we frequent such source of strength and how well we follow its tug on our reins is an individual decision. Forget the obituary. The novel, as it plays out, gets laid at His feet in the end and final judgment rests with He who has known us from our mother’s womb. No lawyers. No appeals. All decisions stand as served……