Wednesday night I went to the Warrior Beach Retreat in Panama City and was the keynote speaker at their banquet on Thursday Night. There was a parade and they had signs made for my truck along with an American flag to put in my window. The young lady who helped me with the signs asked if I wanted a box of Kleenex. I used my Macho Bob steely eyed look and smiled and told her that I didn’t think that would be necessary.
The cars, motorcycles, military vehicles, and my pickup truck were strung out for at least a mile or so along the parade route as we made our way through Panama City and it took almost an hour and a half to arrive at the banquet hall.
The SUV behind me was affiliated with a local radio station and had loudspeakers located on the roof that were playing patriotic music. Tens of thousands of men, women, and children lined each side of the road waving American flags and shouting out “Thank You” to the vets as they went by. We went by a Navy station and soldiers stood erect at full salute as our procession drove past them. Employees of entire businesses along the route were waving flags, saluting, and shouting encouragement.
Almost immediately after leaving, I began to wish that Macho Bob had taken those Kleenex because my eyes were leaking and wiping them with my sleeve was not cutting it.
Back during the spring break it was a different story for the vets, many of whom are in wheel chairs. Some idiot punk fraternity kids had dumped booze and urinated on them as they laughed and hurled obscenities at these brave men and women from an upper floor.
I’m glad I wasn’t there to see that because I know I would have ended up in jail for attempting to beat the crap out of every darn one of them.
We arrived at a large church and the vets feasted on steak with all of the trimmings. The ceremony was conducted and I spoke at the end. I looked out at them and saw them in full military dress. I did not see one smiling face and in fact I had not seen any of them smile the entire time I was there. They are not just suffering from the pain caused by their wounds, but the pain of their memories and sadly a large number of them commit suicide. I was surprised to learn that almost an equal number of their wives and caregivers take that same dark route.
Afterwards I met with each of them individually. I thanked them for their service and prayed with most. Interestingly a few had been to one of the Wounded Warrior Retreats conducted at Honey Lake. Another gentleman told me that he was watching television one night and he had seen my testimony and it inspired him to keep going. Another told me he read Words for the Days. It is truly a small world and I am so thankful that God has reached out to these guys in His special way. Sometimes the little things we do make a big friend,
I had photos made with them and stood with a beautiful young woman who was missing her leg to the thigh level. She didn’t want her crutches to appear in the photo and balanced on one leg while tightly hanging on my shoulder. She whispered that she didn’t have the right shoes on for this type of thing, and I looked down and she was wearing one very high heel. We both broke out laughing as she wobbled back and forth.
It is a shame how our government, especially the VA, is treating these heroic men and women. They seem to just want to give them some addictive narcotic and tell them to go away. The government is what it is, (a bureaucratic nightmare). It will probably never change. But maybe it isn’t the government’s job; it’s better for God’s church to handle it in my mind.
God bless people like the Cope family for organizing an event like this. They and the other volunteers including those who made their beach condos available to these heroes, arranged the fishing trip and Spa visit, fed them, arranged transportation, and otherwise helped make the event a reality brought some of God’s light into the lives of men and women who desperately need it. The Warrior Beach Retreat conducts two of these events per year. They have to raise quite a large sum of money. Google them and contribute, and/or call Linda Cope and volunteer to help with this inspiring event. We will have a video on the Jesus Alliance website in the next few weeks and I hope you will get involved.
2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
September 22, 2015 – Click here to listen