Sacred Moment

Strangest thing just happened.  I was returning from a morning of errands. . .one which took me a little ways down into north Dallas. I decided to come back a different way. . .explore a bit. . .take streets I have not yet been on. It's a pretty, sunny, unusually warm winter day in North Texas and I was only heading home to do housework. . .so I decided not to hurry.

As I made my way back, there was a bit of a wait at a train crossing.  As I pulled to a stop I saw that the entire train was transporting military vehicles. . .humvees, jeeps, trucks.  I mindlessly watched for a few minutes while I listened to music. As I looked, I noticed that they appeared  new. Some were camouflage, some were sand color. . .and that's when I slowly came to the realization that these were probably headed somewhere to be shipped out to another country. . .some place in the desert. . .Iraq?? Afganistan?  It was at that point, I felt like it became a sacred moment. . .because as I looked at the empty vehicles chained to the flatbeds of the cargo train. . .I knew that those would be, at some point, occupied with American troops. Men and women. . .husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. . .defending my rights and assuring my safety as I obliviously enjoyed a day in my own little world in Plano, Texas.

Overwhelmingly, there was only one thing that seemed appropriate to do at that moment. . .as the long line of the train continued to pass.  Pray.  To turn off the music, grasp the significance of the scene passing before me. . .and pray. So I did. I prayed for every single man and woman who would someday be an occupant of each of those vehicles. I prayed for safety. I prayed for wisdom as they navigate dangerous roadways in a far off, hostile land.  I prayed for clarity and intuition that might, in some perilous situation, cause them to turn to the left or the right and avoid a hidden threat. I prayed that they would sense the very arms of God wrapped around them in a dangerous, deadly, lonely place.  And I thanked God for every one of them. . .for their willingness to put themselves in harms way. . .a world away. . .for us.