Yesterday at church we blessed and sent another just-graduated-from-high-schooler named Kirby off to the Air Force. This has been an oft-repeated event during the last couple of years. It may be the lure of recruiters talking to these kids about getting schooling paid for that has them enlisting, or it may be a deep-held conviction that this is what they’re meant to do. Living right outside of Hill Air Force Base, we have a lot of career military families in our congregation. Kirby is from one of those families. He’s a great kid who also happens to play the cello like a dream. His special music at church will be sorely missed.
So when the time came, Kirby stood with Pastor Gary in the middle of the center aisle and all the folks who have watched him grow up, been a part of his life, mentored him in some way, moved to the center aisle as well laying a hand on Kirby or on someone who was laying a hand on Kirby, etc. Then, with all of us connected, Kirby was committed to God’s grace in this “new calling in his life.”
After that Gary’s sermon was about Paul (of the New Testament) following God’s calling in his life. And Gary’s prayer over Kirby kept rattling around in my head. “This new calling…” I was preoccupied with wondering if becoming a soldier can actually be a calling? How does one train for combat and still reconcile in their head and heart the idea they might have to take a life at some point? It’s a mystery to me.
The last song we sang is a favorite of mine. It expresses what’s in my heart about embracing others because we are all made in the image of God (and for me that means we are all blessed with the ability to feel emotions and the desire to be creative), and that God (whoever or whatever your perception of God is) loves his creations. The song is called Freely, Freely… The chorus says:
“He said, Freely, freely you have received;
Freely, freely give.
Go in my name and because you believe,
Others will know that I live.”
I couldn’t help but think of the words little differently, though, in light of Kirby’s departure on Tuesday. A calling to be a soldier? I am still trying to come to terms with it in my head.
I had to leave church for just a bit between the service and Sunday School to make a quick visit to one of our shut-ins who lives very close. By the time I got back, the second service had started and I was late for Sunday School class. But as I walked in the door, there sat Kirby’s mom Deb all alone in the foyer quietly crying. She was watching through the glass doors that separate the foyer from the sanctuary as Kirby played special music for the second service.
It took only a second for that song to come floating back to my mind and I thought, what do the words mean to Deb this morning. Kirby was Wayne and Deb’s only son, only child, and I already knew she was really struggling with the “freely, freely” part. When I had talked to her after the service Deb had squeezed my hand so tightly I nearly pulled away. It felt for all the world like I was watching a woman giving birth. And I suppose in a way it was.
Sometimes it’s not easy to give love with no strings attached. And yet that is what our faith calls us to do. To love all people freely and unconditionally — contrary to what we hear so much about in the media.
I figured Sunday School could just wait for a while longer. There was someone right here in front of me whom I’d been called to this specific moment to love…
Impromptu Promptlings 
Thank Kirby for his sacrifice for a this nation. It has taken me my adult life to reconcile my position in regards to military service. In this fallen world in which we live I view it as a necessary evil. I was discharged from the military in the middle of my enlistment during the Vietnam era, as a conscientious objector. I was not a pacifist but I had some major reservations about organized murder. Currently I feel that I must support our military personnel and thank them for their service. However, when it comes to the politicians who play fast and loss with the lives of our military individuals, in their geopolitical games I would say that their are many including this president and several before him that should be charged with war crimes. When politicians set the rules of engagement, enter into conflicts without clear objectives and exit strategies, they are using the lives of real people as pawns to accomplish their political goals, not necessarily in the realm of national defense. I call that murder.
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Thank you so much for that well thought out answer, Sonny. Especially about the rules of engagement. Lord Drollery really struggles with that, too. I’m not a pacifist either and I will always support our military. But like you, I have always struggled with the whole thing. I read your response to Drollery. He really appreciated it. {{{Sonny}}}
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Oddly, I’m the only one who never ‘served.’ My parents met in the Army during WW2, and during the Vietnam War, my brother enlisted, with the schooling lure. During his tour, he learned the basics of air traffic control. Sadly, he also learned the ways of drug addiction. It was the latter which got him… 😦
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Was part of the problem the stress of that job?
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It was the war. He never was able to get away from addiction. He did not get the chance to work at that kind of job once he got back from his tour of duty.
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In a perfect world we’d have no need for military. My husband is retired Air Force. My stepsons Marines. I have numerous cousins in the Military,,as well as friends children. I’m thankful for each and every one of them and all our Military. I will keep Kirby and his family as well as all new recruits in my continued thoughts and prayers 🙏
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You come from a military family, too, then. Thanks for your awareness and concern. It’s just kind of a shock to your system when you see one after another of them go off.
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I remember when Karry went off to basic training for the Army. The recruiters had been at her high school for weeks, talking kids into signing up on the delayed entry program. They couldn’t touch Karry without my consent until she turned 18. But they kept talking to her and when she did turn 18, they talked her into it, along with a bunch of her friends. She was still in HS (she was Dec baby) and told her NOT to tell me. I was more then pissed when I found out! I know my kids and she was NOT military material. I told the recruiters that, they refused to listen. So what happened?
She flew off to NC for basic, got off the plane and went right to the ER. She had an asthma attack in the humidity there. It took them 3 weeks to get her home. We didn’t even know she had asthma! Her Dr did, and with his help she came home.
I do support our men and women in uniform, but I personal think that recruiters of any kind should be banned from doing so at HS campuses. Kids do not need the added pressure. They do need time to figure out what they want to do after HS. If that’s joining the military then fine. But don’t badger them during that last year of HS.
Oh yeah…all the friends that went with her ended up going AWOL during basic.
Rant over!
Colls
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I agree with you 100%. Kids’ brains are still forming and settling at that age. They are unsure and given to impulsiveness. I suspect that’s part of the reason the military likes to get hold of them at that age. They can still be molded into “killing machines” if that happens to be their personality. Just my opinion…
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