GOD KNOWS OUR EVERY MOVE

        On Veterans Day we remember with gratitude those who have served in our Armed Forces to protect and help us preserve our way of life. But what we see today is not always what is real. Despite living with uncertainty, whether we have painful struggles, broken dreams or failure, the future may show it all to be totally different. 

        On April 18, 1942, sixteen bombers were launched from an aircraft carrier in a raid planned and commanded by Lt. Col. James Doolittle. After it was over, all the aircraft were lost, yet all but three crewmen survived. The raid caused little damage, but it helped raise American morale and cast doubt our enemy.

        After the raid Doolittle had his doubts. He wrote, “My crew chief Paul Leonard and I went to the crash site to see what we could salvage. I sat down beside a wing and looked around at the thousands of pieces of shattered metal that had once been a beautiful airplane and felt lower than a frog’s posterior. This was my first combat mission and I was sure it was my last. As far as I was concerned, it was a failure. 

        “Paul tried to cheer me up. He asked, ‘What do you think will happen when you go home, Colonel?’ I answered, ‘They’ll court-martial me and send me to prison at Fort Leavenworth.’ Paul said, ‘No, Sir. They’re going to make you a general, and they’re going to give you the Medal of Honor.’ I smiled and he made a final effort. ‘Colonel, I know they’re going to give you another airplane and when they do, I’d like to fly with you as your crew chief.’ Tears came to my eyes because that was the supreme compliment a mechanic could give a pilot.”

        Leonard’s predictions proved right. Doolittle’s crew all received medals, Doolittle was promoted to General, and he later received the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Leonard was killed in Africa a year later, but Doolittle lived to be 97 years old. 

        What we see today is not always what is real. Doolittle’s raid seemed a failure but it wasn’t. He was sure he’d be punished, but he became a hero. He wasn’t sure he’d survive the war, yet he lived a long life.

        The Bible says, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” (Psalm 139:1-4)

        God knows our every move. He sees in advance what will happen and how it will impact others around us. This is why He allows such a variety of events in our lives, even those things we wish would not happen. God knows how they will bless others in ways we can only imagine.

Would you thank a Veteran today?

Rev. Bob Tasler, www.bobtasler.com