Like so many others I’ve been appalled at the Veterans health care debacle. Yesterday I walked by the television and saw President Obama standing on stage wearing a leather bomber jacket giving a speech to some young warriors in Afghanistan. Gag, puke . . . Today he speaks at West Point.
Grrrrrrr!!!!
He went on and on with more and more of his big promises and what all his administration has achieved, but the facts are clear concerning his military “achievements”. Aside from reducing our military beyond dangerous levels and making a fool out of our nation to the rest of the world, 40 of our brave soldiers died on his watch while awaiting medical care at a veteran’s hospital. Add them to the list of those who needlessly died in Benghazi and he has nothing to brag about; in fact he should be ashamed and on His knees asking forgiveness from God for his behavior. I would much prefer that he would go to a fundraiser or play golf like he does during any crisis, than stand in front of our young heroes trying to look like one of them, and tell them he cares about them. It’s so disingenuous that it would gag a maggot.
I was so disgusted I couldn’t bear to even look at his face. Later that evening I watched 60 minutes, and they covered several soldiers who were suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, (PTSD). They also covered the treatment that they were receiving for it. It was heart breaking to see these men grieving and crying as they relived the horrors that they had been through.
Recently I spoke to some young girls and women who had lived through the horrors of being molested, raped, being beaten and otherwise abused and they reminded me of these soldiers. An artist created a large cross comprised of popsicle sticks at the home and he asked each of these girls to give him a few words that described how they felt about themselves that he could write on the popsicle sticks. As I looked at the cross I teared up as I read the words most often used: “pain”, “useless”, “scum”, “worthless”, “evil”, “shame”, “hopeless” and the like.
Somehow they felt that the things that they had endured, seen, and done were of their own making and they were at fault, instead of the idiots that abused them. As I watched 60 minutes I saw some of those same words written on the notebooks of the soldiers. “PAIN” was scrawled on one soldier’s notebook in large letters; another mentioned, “HOPELESS” and “USELESS”. I watched a couple of soldiers undergoing therapy whereby they were being forced by their counselors to relive the horrors that they had experienced in war. The psychiatrist insisted that it was good to confront it and get it out.
Hmmm . . . I’ve heard the same thing at several rehabilitation centers. I suppose those shrinks know best, but I don’t like to live in the past. I try to focus on Jesus and if my mind drifts to things I did when I lived on the mean streets, I try to think about something good that is ahead of me instead of all of that horror in my past.
When I spoke to the girls at Mercy Ministries in Nashville, one asked me how I was able to move on and get by all the “stuff”. I described it as being similar to viewing the windshield of a car. In the center is a tiny rear view mirror and the rest is a big, broad open windshield. When I look in the rear view mirror I don’t like what I see; I much prefer to look ahead to a brand new day. That windshield to me represents life. I don’t want to live in the past and the only reason I mention it at all is to encourage others to move on and be whatever they want to be. I want to look through that big clean windshield at new things. I often think of my life as described in 2 Cor. 5:17 – This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
I also try to stay busy. This week I’m doing two different prison ministries, one in south Florida with Jack – Murf the Surf – Murphy and the Singing Preacher, Kenny Munds, and the other in the Tallahassee area with the Bill Glass Day of Champions; I have several different meetings throughout the day in Tampa about the Renewal of America effort and a Honey Lake development project I’m doing; and then I’m going to Orlando to meet with a movie producer and some investors about making my book, (Miracle on Luckie Street), into a movie and another meeting for Renewal; and then I’m driving home to attend Honey Lake Church and Bible study on Sunday.
Whew! I’ll be a little too busy to think of all of the bad stuff that happened to me when I was a little kid or otherwise in the past.
I’m praying for the tens of thousands of vets and others who are suffering from PTSD in this country. Personally I think they need God to become a huge part of their lives. Not one person mentioned his name in dealing with their problems in 60 Minutes, but I can tell you Jesus Christ is the Great Physician and He can heal them. Heck He can even heal narcissism and through Him there is even hope for the Prez. Maybe he will get filled with the Holy Spirit and write Miracle on Pennsylvania Ave . . .
Enjoy your Memorial Day holiday!
Psalm 33:12 – Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His heritage! The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; from where he sits enthroned He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
May 26, 2014 – Click here to listen