I'll be Gone for Christmas

This is a wonderful time of year for so many of us. We love celebrating the birth of Christ and the beauty and joy that this season brings. We love spending Christmas with our families, we love the lights and exchanging gifts, and if you’re anything like me you especially love the food! But this year I am experiencing something new. For the first time in my life I have to spend Christmas without my little brother. Josh Lloyd shipped off on December 10 for basic training in the Air Force. He will be gone a total of 3 months.
My brother and I are very close which makes him being gone all the more difficult. But I have gained a whole new respect for our men and women in the armed services since Josh has left. I always appreciated the fact that they would just pick up and leave and go to Iraq or Germany or basic training or any other place. But this time it hit close to home. Until now, it almost had the affect of watching the news and seeing a tragedy that happened in another place far away. I might think that this event was terrible but it never really strikes you until you are in the midst of it and can see it first hand. But it is real and there is pain in being away from loved ones at this time of year. As my family ate dinner and opened some of our presents tonight my mind drifted to wondering what my brother was doing and how badly I wished he could be with us. The vacant seat at the table and the lack of another person to open gifts left us all with heavy hearts.
This pain in my heart is another reminder of sin. If there were no sin then there would be no need for a military and thus my brother could be home this Christmas. The evil in man’s heart that causes the nations to wage war against each other is the very reason we need the armed services. Were it not for them, pandemonium would certainly ensue.
We all know soldiers that won’t be home for Christmas this year. When you think of them, pray for them. They are real people who each represent whole families that will be without a loved one to sit down with at dinner and to give presents to. The dedication to their country that this shows speaks volumes. They are the ones who stand watch while the rest of us are asleep comfortably in our beds. They are the ones that give up freedoms to protect ours. They are the military of the greatest country in the world, and they are the ones that this year will sing the song, “I’ll be Gone for Christmas.”