Coming Home
If you want to increase your interest for a country, travel there. If you want to doubly increase your concern, have one of your children go there. This is what happened to Jan and me as we took a lonely midnight ride up to Camp Pendleton six months ago to see our son Jonathan Mark Jappe off for Iraq. We knew he was trained, equipped and prepared, yet, as the other moms, dads, grandparents, girl and boy friends and fiancés all knew, it is still hard to send anyone off to war.
This conflict for friends and family in the USA has been different than World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or even the first Gulf War. One big difference is communication through email, as we can communicate daily if need be, and through telephone connections (it is just as easy and clear as a cell phone call from Point Loma Nazarene University, and even there, the phone service drops the calls all the time). Jonathan and I talk often; he wants to discuss everything but the war: church, family, girls, football and travel when he comes home safe and sound.
Jan and I are so proud of our son as he serves our Lord as a Chaplain’s assistant and serves our country as a sailor. Here is an article he wrote about his experience.
"I have a very distinct foot print. It’s due to the nice new Converse, desert, steel toed, zip-up, super comfortable boots that my parents were kind enough to buy for me. I walk almost everywhere here in Iraq, and since the ground is covered in sand, I find myself walking in my old footprints as I go back and forth from the chow hall, to work, to the chapel, to the command deck or 'head shed.'
"In a land with constant wind and dust storms, I am surprised that my boot prints stay visible for days; however, I know that they will not last. Foot prints are bound to the second law of entropy just as much as anything else and the effect might be a little more immediate then other objects. In a matter of days my foot prints outside my office door will be gone, replaced by pebbles or sand or most likely the boot prints of another service member needing help from the Chaplain.
"We all go places and do things, leaving an impression on the environment. Whether it is as obvious as a boot print that says Converse, or the touch we give to another human soul, may the latter last longer then the former."
Ah, what a kid! [Note to self: take credit for this one, too] And now the time draws near to pray him home, the months are turning into weeks, and soon days. Pray with us for safety, success, and service, so like the others in this conflict, brothers Daniel and Lance Garcia, and Brian Morris, we too might experience the doors of the plane open and see a more mature, seasoned sailor son run into our arms again. Thank you for upholding us in this pastor’s season of life.
In Christ,
Pastor Mark
Please add to your prayer list these two young men serving in Baghdad:
PFC Army National Guardsman, Ricky Wilson (grandson to Ed & Betty Ohler)
PFC Army, Matthew Bryant (nephew to Beth and Chuck Bush)
