War?

PK’s Corner                                                                                                              December 7, 2010


John 11:35 Jesus Wept



69 years ago, on a Sunday morning, the United States of America was forced into a war that had been going on since 1939. The unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor was to change the lives of those who fought and those who lived during the war. It would also change the world, and even today we are realing from the effects of that war.



Consider this: The total killed at Pearl Harbor was 2402 military and civilian personnel. Of that 1177 were aboard the USS Arizona. Total American Casualties for the war from that day to August of 1945 were 418,500 both military and civilian.



For the world from 1939 to 1945 there were over 70 million persons killed of that 25 million were military casualties, the rest were civilian. Over 6 million of those died in the gas chambers and furnaces of the Concentration camps. The Second World War was a truly world war. There was no place on earth that was not affected in some way by the war. Economically it led to rationing and in some places starvation. Civilly whole towns were wiped out, never to rise from the ashes. For the family, it led to the eradication of whole generations and family names. Almost 9% of the population was destroyed in that war. Most of that population were guilty of only being in the wrong place at the wrong time.



And yes, Jesus wept. How could he not, to see his children harming one another over petty things such as politics, and power? Today we still argue over the trivial stuff, when we should be loving our neighbor and loving our God. What have we learned, wars still happen, people still look out for themselves, governments still exert their power and bask in that power. Petty dictators still kill the innocents in the name of ethnic cleansing. What have we learned?



How many families were broken by this war, and are still healing even today. Like the oil that still leaks from the USS Arizona, we still bleed. When will we learn?



Wars will always be around us, Peace will always be elusive, unless we as Christians and followers of Christ start loving and caring as Christ did for us. What can you do today, that will stop someone from making war? What can we do today, that will celebrate the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Life?



For humankind, stopping war may be impossible, but with God all things are possible.



Amen