Good News from a Servicemen's Home

This article was taken from an email from Sis Ramirez regarding an email they received from one of their previous servicemen and the GoodNews Site wanted to share the Good News of what God is doing in hearts around the world. 

 

Hello brother, This is an e-mail we received recently from a brother who was reached under us in Korea back in the early 90’s; he’s gone on to serve the Lord and wrote this to us. We felt it would be an inspiration to an soldiers reading this site. We obtained permission from him to send this to you and have it posted if you would like to….. To us, it embodies Making a difference in the military… Sis. Ramirez

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(He’s a captain, currently a team leader of a SF team deployed in Afghanistan)

An interesting testimony I have to pass along to you. Upon receiving my commission in 2001, I immediately discovered that holding the position as an officer afforded me an incredible platform to win souls. The frivolous escapade of gallantry from wearing the army's Ranger tab, Special Forces tab and having served in Delta Force provided me an unquestionable perception of experience before the soldiers I was placed in charge of. My platoon and company surely thought they had a deranged lunatic when I signed into the company; yet when I laid the bible on my desk followed by laying down the law for blasphemy, cursing, and unethical behavior in my presence you could have counted the number of mouths that weren't left wide open on one hand. It was an interesting first week in the platoon, cleaning house one could say. After a command inspection of the barracks and work areas, I bagged almost two trash cans full of undesirable material plastered on virtually every wall. Disgruntled would be a good term to assess the disposition of many in the platoon during the first month. It was game on as soon as Lt Worlock heard any swearing in his presence. The unfortunate offenders had the explicit opportunity to arrive at PT and hour early to burn off some of their mouthy energy before everyone else arrived at formation by 0630. It only took a few mornings for the rest of the platoon to observe their comrades dripping wet in sweat prior to the 0630 PT formation to fully comprehend the cause and effect inconvenience of a filthy mouth.

A month later 9/11 occurred and our platoon was tasked to go to Afghanistan immediately. What was evolving into a desperate command climate instantaneously reverted into a solemn allegiance for my direction. It was a cascading effect as soldiers in the platoon began approaching me with fear and desperation facing the initial deployment to war. It put the fear of God in them, and it was amazing how quickly the most arrogant were humbled. It was about a week after we received the deployment order that I entered my office one morning and found a grocery bag nearly full of cigarettes, cans of dip, pornography and alcohol. At first, I thought it was an antagonistic ploy to undermine me, but moments later the platoon sergeant came in and explained. Apparently two of the section sergeants, that were giving me the most resistance, cleaned up their squads the night prior. He told me that each of them wanted to speak with me in private. My first reaction was to be in defensive mode not believing a word of it. Yet when they each reported individually, it was almost difficult to recognize their demeanor. The platoon met at the company at 0300 Sunday morning to draw their weapons being manifested to depart Pope AFB at 0600 Feb 2002 for Afghanistan. The platoon sergeant had everyone meet me down in the motor pool before the buses left the battalion area. We all took a knee and as I prayed for Gods protection not to let any weapon prosper over us. You could have heard a pin drop. Immediately afterwards I went into my office to secure some crypto out of the platoon safe. When I emerged from my office, every soldier was still standing in the hallway. Those two section sergeants stopped me to apologize in front of the platoon, and every soldier came by and shook my hand, some had tears swelling in their eyes. It was one of the most surreal moments I have every experienced in my life.

That was the beginning sir, and only the beginning. I was assigned to this team prior to deploying and already two of my soldiers have questioned me regarding the bible that sits on my desk. A few conversations have already developed, and the reality of Christ is saturating them. I have learned a valuable lesson from my initial shock and awe campaign as a new lieutenant, there is much to be said about being wise as a serpent yet harmless as a dove. Bro. T. Worlock

Do you have an encouraging report you'd like to share with us?  If so, please email your testimonies to wwjd2009@hotmail.com .  We'd love to hear from you.