Happy Memorial Day!
On this special holiday, when we remember those who at minimum have given their lives in service to this country, and in the extreme have laid down their lives on fields of battle, I am reminded of a very special personal God Encounter. It was 1971 and I was being drafted into the US Army at the end of the Vietnam War. I was fearful of the training and the outcome of being sent to Vietnam to fight. Many of my high school friends and college buddies had already been sent, and many had not come home. In those days and hours of thought, reflection and preparation to enter Basic Training, and ultimate deployment in Vietnam, I was brought to a place I had never been before in my life. I had to contemplate my own finiteness and the stark reality that I was not as immortal as I thought. I had been given a spiritual foundation by my grandparents, but I was far from a practicing believer. As I entered Basic Training, and quickly learned of the stark reality that I would definitely be going to Vietnam, and that I would very likely not come home again, I was paralyzed with fear. I was also consumed with loneliness and isolation, as the US military broke me down, so that they could build me into the man that they knew I needed to be to best serve my country and survive in combat.
Little did I know at the time that a power greater than the Defense Department was working to break me down and build me up. Broken by my isolation, Basic Training and the stark reality of going to a war zone in Vietnam, I was driven to prayer and study of the "little green Bible" that I had received in my first few days of Basic Training. I prayed to my "unknown God" to deliver me from the imminent death that I feared. I prayed for protection. And I took a vow that if God delivered me, I would serve Him all the days of my life in whatever capacity He chose. All the while, I continued to prepare for an eventual deployment to Vietnam. I disciplined myself to be the best that I could be.
One morning, many weeks later, just be fore we were to receive our assignments to our next post, my battalion commander called me into his office. After some preliminary conversation about my performance throughout my training, he asked me if I would like to go to Alaska. I was shocked! Alaska? I thought, "Closer to Vietnam, but definitely not a tropical zone." I asked him what the duty assignment would be. He told me that I would be working at an Air Defense Missile Site, protecting the borders of the US, and securing our safety in what was yet a strong "cold war" environment. I was speechless! I asked him if this meant that I would not go to Vietnam. He told me that I would spend my complete two-year enlistment in Alaska. I resisted the urge to break down and cry in front of my commanding officer. But, as soon as I left his office, I collapsed on a bench and wept.
The last place I expected to Encounter God was in the military! But He had answered my prayers. It was years later before I realized completely that God had been preparing me for battle - but it was a spiritual battle within my heart and the hearts of others.
In 1971, I was drafted into the United States Army. But I was also drafted into the Army of God. I expected to encounter the enemy of our country in Southeast Asia, but I Encountered God in a place called Basic Training and Alaska. My fears were turned to faith in an experience that I would have never chosen. For that I will always be grateful to my God. And, as shocking as it may seem, I will always be grateful for the very low draft lottery number that guaranteed my being drafted in 1971 into a wilderness of transformation beyond my wildest imagination.

Encounter The Word
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Some Encounter Questions

• What fears have you learned in life? Where has your trust been most challenged? What is preventing you from experiencing life to the fullest?
• How might you build or rebuild your trust in GOD's faithfulness? What are the first steps you will take?
• Where in your life can you acknowledge that GOD has been asking you to "leap?" What adventures ... wildernesses ... might you imagine that He has in store for you?
• What surprising God Encounters have you had?