Who's On the Lord's Side, Who?

I am at my daughter's home, hugging my grandbabies. I am safe and warm. Her house is cute, small, and cozy, and though it needs a little work...I love it...it feels secure. It is not on fire somewhere, or under threat of flood or bombs. I am a Cristian and can worship as I please, go to church when I want, say my prayers wherever I want and don't have to be afraid to voice my opinion about the candidates or politics.



Yesterday I received a letter from a SGT stationed in Iraq that touched my soul in the deepest possible way. It was about how prayer had preserved his life so many times, and because of this, He knows we are fighting a war against good and evil, against right and wrong .



As the rhetoric continues and the tempers flare, as the politicians make there stand...my prayer is that you stay informed...especially viewing the Fox news network, listening to Laural Ingraham and Glenn Beck. We have to win this war. Our very religion is at stake unless a peaceful solution can be reached. I know many of you don't like to think about such things, but the Christian way of life is being torn apart in every corner and threatened on every front. Radical Islam has vowed to annihilate the Christian faith. How many, once they have bombed our borders or invaded our cities will be able to say you or your children that theirhomes are safe and warm and grandbabies are safe and warm. Get informed, support our troops, pray for the proper commanders to be placed where they need to be, and pray for my friend, who's partial letter I have enclosed. God bless this soldier...God Bless America.


"One last testament to the belief in God before we leave. An update: We
will be out of this popsicle stand next week. A few odds and ends need tied, but overall we are complete. On Oct 17th, for those who do not know, an insurgent element attempted to take my life with a grenade. It wasn't personal; he would have tried to throw it at any opportunity target in the area. I was not supposed to be there that day. An additional duty was willfully skirted to join my platoon on this final run to a location. Before rolling out the gate the words "Dear God, protect us as we roll out the gate. Send your angels before us to clear the path and if Michael isn't too busy please ask him to join." Nothing grandiose, sweet, short, to the point and the message is not something that needs much explanation because He knows our hearts.
On this day, something in the air smelled different, I took it as a warning to prepare myself. I am not scared of death, it becomes us all eventually. This was the closest kiss I remember having with death. Let me say the breath is in need of some scope or Crest. I believe I was sent that day because I could not handle losing one of my guys. Under the protection of the Lord I withstood the blast of a grenade that was meant to end my life. End result was the insurgent giving me a piece of his hand the hard way. I also found out that I can kill a man without hesitation given the conditions. God helped me find a car bomb that was not meant to be found, timed the insurgents who were to detonate that bomb to be there when we arrived, and put the conditions most secular views would conjure up to luck. So many more factors are involved that I believe there is no other explanation than Divine Intervention. Compassion in the most extreme sense overwhelmed me as I stared at the young looking man who got sold a fantasy by the religious mob. It is not so simple to say you killed him before he killed you. In truth, he held the advantage and it, by scientific law, was meant to extinguish my light. His ideology and radical views failed.
October 30, thirteen days later. Our last mission, same prayer, same warning in the air. Two spots, two explosions, two craters. Our first site excavated a 90 X 20 foot section of road with 620 pounds of explosives. At our second site, 30 meters from where SGT Bevington was killed our search element found a gauntlet of IED's. While setting up the means to eradicate these deadly devices, one went off. Again too many factors that rule out secular or scientific reasoning. My platoon leader was three feet from a 120mm size artillery round along with two Marine explosive ordnance disposal members. 10 minutes before eight vehicles drove over the device. 30 seconds before it detonated I was on the ground walking over it. (Yes there is detail to the scene but really is not the point this time) The vehicle that set it off simply had the windshield cracked and half of the hood blown off, the tire was not affected. I have a chunk of the round that had the potential to kill eight people on this day and simply injured one to the point he had to be medevaced to another camp for picking out the shrapnel from his face and sewing him up. Praise God he will return to duty only a little banged up. This is not a means to win compassion for the choice I made to serve in whatever capacity I am asked. This is simply two events that happened within my platoon that (by all scientific measure) should have left us with 9 less people on this earth. This is a testament to the very fact that this conflict is not about bombs, weapons of mass destruction, or other means used to kill people. This conflict is about the very principles and beliefs necessary to perform such vicious acts and that it is in the power of prayer/belief in God that will change the conditions. I am not a religious leader, nor did these events give me a greater calling to eat better, exercise more, love more, or be something I am not. These events are being mentioned from one believer to those who will listen - the power of prayer is exponentially greater when more understand what to pray for. I have always said - Do not pray that I don't go, pray that I come back. I AM SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! I am a witness to a power that supersedes the destruction of man-made objects. It is my responsibility to share this with you and to urge you to believe that your prayers to end this conflict are not enough. The darkness that can be felt here is strong and no weapon in the coalition arsenal will satisfy the end like prayer. This is a massive spiritual battle to which the foxholes are dug in deep and the defenses are tough. Walking, talking, living proof that those defenses are no match for God."


Kerry Gerber
SFC Combat Engineer, USA