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Health & Fitness

National Day of Prayer

Today is National Day of Prayer... how should we pray for our nation in the wake of a week of violent response to a world of terror?

Today is the National Day of Prayer and on this day I will pray, "Lord help us from reveling in another persons death, even our enemies.  Keep us from the cyclical pattern of violence that much of the world is ensnared. "

While this week marked a significant moment in our nation's fight against terrorism globally, I could not allow myself to revel in the death of another person.  While scripture is full of stories where the enemy was completely wiped from the earth there is just as weighty of a balance towards peacefully approaching resolution to conflict.  In fact Jesus came to redeem and not destroy humanity.  Love became the new rule, and even the love of our enemy.

Before you throw stones... let me explain further this emotion; I find myself more fearful of the images of dancing and celebration in squares of our nation than excited and patriotic.  Something about these images reminds me of those I have seen from the very regions of our world that are entrenched in a cycle of violence where one side kills and the other side waves their flags.  I can't help but ask, "are we overcoming the threat of violence through our violence or joining in the cycle with grave implications?" 

On the other side, I am excited for the families who have found justice through this moment in our nation's history, for the justice sensed by the countless lives sacrificed in war for us to live in peace.  People, like this leader of terror, are a threat to our living in a country where we are able to practice our faith we profess freely.  I am grateful for the freedom their sacrifice allows, but scared of the road we must travel to maintain such freedom.  Nations that shed blood to overcome opposition eventually live amongst violence...every seed sown gives roots to bear fruit of it's own kind. 

We serve a just God; therefore, I am not in disagreement with the punishment that came upon the most wanted terrorist on the planet, but more concerned by our reaction to such punishment.

That said... we should pray for our country and it's leadership on this National Day of Prayer.  There is no way we can comprehend the pressure and weight of having to make this decision by our President.  So to that end I pray, "God bless America!"

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