Posted by
peripheral on Monday, April 06, 2009 11:20:20 AM
From My Perspective - - -
It seems as though there is an over-abundance of bad news that has
become a constant in terms of media reporting. When American and Allied
wounded and killed in Iraq occurred, the news reports barraged us with
the body count. While we should have been aware of those being wounded
and killed in the conflict, there is very little reporting of the
positives, such as, (a) the success of the surge; (b) the rebuilding of
the infra-structure; (c) the free and non-intimidating elections being
held; (d) the government nearing attainment of the 18 benchmarks; (e)
the numbers of girls and children in schools; (f) the greater freedom
and rights for women; (g) the improvement and dependability of the
Iraqi Army and Police; etc. Rather than General Patraeus being
besmirched by the poster that referred to him as General “Betray-us”,
he should’ve been and should be viewed as a gifted General and Hero.
We don’t seem to have time for Heroes in real life anymore. We have had
generations who fantasized about the heroics of Superman, Batman, The
Incredible Hulk, Spider Man, etc. We don’t seem to have time and space
for the true and real Heroes of our time and recent history. A report
is now circulating the Internet about Ed Freeman.
“You're a 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1, and the
enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own
Infantry Commander has ordered the Medi-Vac helicopters to stop coming
in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you
know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world,
12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts
to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound
of a helicopter, and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn't
seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming
for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it
in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you
on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the
Doctors and Nurses. And, he kept coming back…13 more times…And took
about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died last Wednesday at the age of
80, in Boise, ID.”
Consider these things with me - - - A Hero is a special individual. The
American Heritage Dictionary defines Heroes as: “A person noted for
feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked
or sacrificed his or her life…” in a noble cause and/or effort. Warfare
and Tragedy have a way of producing Heroes. Certain occupations depend
on those who are willing to risk life and well-being as they endeavor
to come to the aid of others – Firefighters come immediately to mind.
There are great instances of Heroes in the Holy Scriptures. Some who
come to mind are Moses; Abraham; Joshua; Nehemiah; Esther; Gideon;
Elijah; Hezekiah; etc. But the greatest hero of all was a man from
Nazareth named Jesus Christ. He would bear the sin of the world and pay
the full penalty for your sin and mine. In II Corinthians 5:19-21, we
read this summary about Jesus Christ: “God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against
them….God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our
sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” What an
act of Grace and Mercy! God loved us so much that He made a way for us
to be with Him forever in His Heaven! And, Jesus Christ was willing to
be the once-for-all sacrifice for sin! What a Wonderful Hero! What a
Wonderful King! What a Wonderful Savior! What a Wonderful Risen Lord!