Peacemaking

Well, last night President Obama used West Point as a backdrop to share his Afghanistan Strategy for the War on terror. He is catching flack from both the left and the right and some surveys show that over 55% of Americans think he is on the wrong track for the Afghan-Pak region. I think it is the right thing to give the commanders the resources that they need to execute whatever strategy. If you do not adequately resource them bring all of them home. What we do not need is another Somalia where President Clinton failed to adequately resource our brave soldiers. Many died because of that failure. I saw the look in the Rangers eyes at Ft. Hunter, GA when they felt betrayed by their leaders.
What does all of this have to do with peacemaking? Well, too many politicians, bishops, and clergy confuse peacemaking with peace keeping. They try and please their constituents and do or say the politically correct thing thinking that keeping the peace is the same as peace making. the two are totally different. The doctor/surgeon must at times do radical surgeries to make peace in a sick person's body. The doctor or the patient might not really want to do the surgery but must so the patient can be saved. In the military, we serve as peace makers and sometimes have to blow stuff up and kill people to achieve peace. This is an uncomfortable truth. God says, "Blessed are the peace makers..." Sometimes that is the politican or religious leader saying hard things to stop war. At other times we are called upon to stop genocide or work against terrorist cells and governments to bring justice and let mercy roll in the land. The Taliban as well as Al Qaeda are evil organizations which must be stopped at all costs. Yes, it is sad when innocents are killed in the hard process. It is certainly sad to have to go to a house as a military chaplain and have to tell a family that their mommy or daddy have died in the war. But, since we have committed so many of our precious sons and daughters to the fight we must now press on to make peace and do what is necessary to stabilize while wiping out and scourging the land of as many Taliban and Al Qaeda as possible. If we can do that in 18 months I support the President in this (my friends should not choke on that). If it takes longer then I hope he gets the necessary courage to do the right thing. I hope and pray that he can do that because it would be such a change in character.
Later I will write about another Peace Making Task for the church intaking care of our wounded warriors and their families...but that is for another blog and is another story. Grace and Peace from the only true source of Peace...Jesus.