After the brief reunion with our families, our disheveled, ragtag bunch unloaded at Ft. Hood— the place we had left half a year before. Something had changed in all of us. Which world was real—the one at war or the one at home? To which world did we belong? After a handful of us arrived back at Dulles Airport with these questions on our minds, our youngest soldier picked up his bags and walked alone into the night.
There is indeed something terrifying about the broken world around us. It is not the war or even death at the core of the fear. It is the realization that we do not belong to this world, nor will it ever open its heart to us. God’s people will always be outsiders, our hearts crying out against a world in rebellion to Him.
Yet we are not alone. God does not leave us as orphans, but has made us sons through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. We are part of an eternal family and destined for a world where the tears of solitude are wiped away. As for now, we labor with brothers and sisters in the same hope.