1 Sam. 31; 2 Sam. 1,2 [The Message]

After King Saul and his sons were killed in the war, David mourned them bitterly. He wrote a song about them. Shortly thereafter, Joab and Abner, the captains of the armies of Judah and Israel, continued the bloodshed.

STUPID! War is STUPID. Each casualty is some mother’s son, some wife’s husband, some child’s father. Wars generally arise from the arrogance of men (King Saul, Hitler, Putin) and claim a cost that is too painful to endure. We should pray that wars would end and that lives could be spared.

I’m personally grateful to my wife, my mother, and my grandmother whose prayers kept me out of the Vietnam war. I was headed there when President Nixon announced the cutbacks. My infantry training company was one of the very first to be rerouted away from Vietnam. Thank you Jesus. I grieve for the men who had to go.