i did not want to know his name

today started off by dropping off my youngest 2 with their grandfather. their mom is in atlanta and i am going to flagstaff. as i was leaving my home airport, there was a young (3-4?) girl in front of me going thru security. she was pushing her baby doll stroller and looking very grownup and assured. she was wearing a teal blue sequined dress and was traveling with her mom and dad. her hair looked like a newborns hair-very thin and very short. as i watched her it was obvious she had been thru chemotherapy and was just starting to grow back. i flashed back to my brother going thru his chemo and heartbroken he was when he would see the kids at m.d. anderson in houston going in for their treatments. he was stage 4 (terminal) and instead of focusing on his own mortality, he was feeling the pain of someone he did not even know. now i know some of how he was feeling. after boarding in charlotte, there were about 25 servicemen on this flight. having flown alot, seeing them is not uncommon.
after a weird series of events, 2 ended up sitting beside me. one of them i had seen earlier. nice looking guy, mid 20's and had that military confident aire about him. he and the other soldier started talking and soon he spoke to me.
he was very talkative and we talked about alot of things. he had just completed basic training, was 25 and had been a bartender. he was from baltimore. he turned to the other guy and started asking him about his outfit. i had turned on my computer and my wallpaper is a copy of the "lee teter" print he did for the vietnam veterans. it is haunting. in a split second
it occured to me that i was supposed to pray for him and the others and i had images of Arlington come to me. i tried to push past all this and then he did it-he introduced himself to the other soldier. his name was robert reynolds. i did not want to know this. i have a habit of meeting people and forming a bond with them. now i knew i had to pray. i felt that if i did not, i would find his name on a stone at Arlington and i knew i would lose it right there.
so, i prayed for him. i prayed for the others. i prayed for our military leadership. i prayed for the president. there was a guy sitting in 1st class who bought sandwiches for all the guys in uniform. i wished i could have. there are times i get angry that i can't do more for other people. i would love to be so filthy rich that i could donate almost all of it to make peoples lives better. i wished i could go with them. they know that one day soon they will be in iraq and their world will be forever changed.
today has been one of those days that takes me out of my own little world. i like my own little world. it centers around God/Church, my children, and driving my coach. my own little world is comfortable and i really like it there. god takes me out of there and shows me things i otherwise would have missed. he wants me to see more than my world. these guys on my flight today stepped "out of their worlds" by choice to do an honorable thing for you, me, this country and all of mankind. when i step back and take it in, praying is not only the least thing i can do for these guys, it is the most powerful thing i can do. you can be a powerful force for these courageous men and women. this war on terrorism will probably never be "won". but i truly believe fervent prayer can change any course set out by man no matter hell bent he is to destroy. so pray. and pray hard. pray without ceasing. as the t-shirt says "pray hard". our country, our world and these guys depend on it.
until next time...