I’m holding out for the bonus…

"…And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first ."--Matthew 19:29-30,The Message

A bonus has meant different things at various points in my life. When I first joined the military it was the free money my recruiter promised just by virtue of joining a particular unit in Modesto, California. The unit existed but the money never did.

Some things never change, I realized all over again, last evening as I sat with two new Soldiers who described the disparity of what they were told they would be doing in their specific military occupational skill and what they are actually being trained for. Thankfully they still had their sense of humor and exhibited the necessary resiliency they will need for the duration of their training here with us.

At other points in my life the bonus has been the free gift with purchase offer I have held out for at my local department store’s Cosmetic Counter. I am very American in thinking I should get my money’s worth and sometimes, let’s be honest, more than my money’s worth!

Many are familiar, after nearly a decade of war, of the sacrifices that our military service personnel, our loved ones and those who serve alongside us, regularly make. Not everyone can understand the full impact of those sacrifices. Please allow me to give you just a glimpse of my own recent and accumulative experience as a Soldier, wife, mom, daughter, sister and community member that I am:

After two deployments and multiple trainings, nearly three years of total absence from our son’s life, I returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom during his senior year of high school. In recent years I lovingly bantered with him that we owed each other at least two more years due to the long separations we incurred in our family life.

As graduation day came closer, it was apparent Gabriel had not bought into my mothering attempts to delay the Empty Nester stage of life. It did became clear to my husband and I, he had his own sense of God’s calling for this next stage of his life and was determined (much like myself in earlier years) he would not be held back from all God had prepared for him.

Driving away from Austin, Texas, with my husband Garrett, leaving our son to God-Knows-What (and thankfully He does know), it was difficult to absorb that his destiny might even include not ever living under our roof again. This grief certainly pales in comparison to the finality this side of eternity of the ultimate sacrifice our Gold Star Family Members have incurred with the loss of their own service member –and of whom our grateful nation and its allies continue to benefit.

Since that day in Austin, God has lovingly surprised us with amazing feats of our son’s accomplishments. Most recently it was the launching of his own blog: Church Planting at 19 (http://letterly.net/gabenorthway)

Certainly I don’t claim to understand the full interpretation of Mark 10:30 which reads; “receive a hundred times as much now in this time (Amplified Bible)” but I find it interesting that in the same week we had to leave our son in his new hometown, we started another rich and rewarding journey of our lifetime in which we regularly have opportunity to come alongside hundreds of young adults who are away from home for the first year of their lives.

Yes, I am fresh from yet another Mother’s Day spent away from our son and with that move towards another Memorial Day where I will not be able to escape the stark realization of the ultimate sacrifice of our comrades and allies and also the sacrifices of their loved ones but I take comfort in knowing in Our Heavenly Father’s economy He alone can and will redeem what we have given up in His name. And I’m holding out for the bonus: An eternal home lovingly paid for by Jesus Christ’s Ultimate Sacrifice and prepared by Him personally!

What we can’t comprehend in our human condition, we can be assured by God’s Word in 1 Corinthians 1:24-25, that God will make sense of the seemingly senseless; “But to us who are personally called by God himself… —Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness (The Message)."

Making Peace on the Way Home from War with you!

Lisa