The following was written by my son, Mark Daniel Waite, who at is at the time of this posting in Balad, Iraq waiting to come home to the States after 11 months in Iraq.
Don't Waste the Story of Your Deployment
Written August 18, 2009.
As I write, I have been deployed to Iraq for almost eleven months with the United States Army. I have eleven days until I begin the journey back to the United States. Prior to this deployment, I was busy writing and distributing a booklet that a few of my friends and I wrote called “Don’t Waste Your Deployment”. Throughout this deployment, I have tried to live in such a way as not to waste it. Now with a meager eleven days left of this deployment, my mind is filled with thoughts of how I can use the story of this deployment in such a way that will bring the most glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
However you may feel about your time in this deployment, whether wasted or used to the max for Christ’s glory and your joy, we have now finished. We cannot go back and rewrite the story of this deployment. Arriving back home, friends and family will clamber to hear about our experiences and stories we have had the past year. And, whether we wasted or used well this deployment, we are presented with a huge choice now that we have finished this deployment…will we waste the story of our deployment, or will we use it for the glory of Christ and the advance of the joy of the gospel?
While the American people may have varied feelings on the war, Soldiers and military personnel are generally held in high respect. The people will listen to our stories of the deployment. Those who have never been to Iraq or Afghanistan will only have the pictures that the press and we paint for them. You may feel very strongly that we should or should not have entered the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but regardless, we did. You may or may not feel very negatively about your time spent in the Middle East. However we may feel, God in His grace has seen us through.
Regardless of our feelings on the subject of this deployment, we as Christians, as Soldiers in both the Heavenly Army and the U.S. Army, have a God-given duty to use the stories of our deployment in such a way that Jesus Christ is presented as the glorious treasure that He truly is! We may wish to complain about our time on this deployment, but I ask, is that really honoring to Christ? We may wish to forget our time spent in the “sandbox”, but I ask, does that make Christ look like the faithful sustainer that He has been every moment of this deployment?
Each and every one of us, who has been deployed, has people who will listen to our story of this deployment. We can speak of how much we hated Iraq, we can complain of how miserable it was, we can paint a very poor and negative picture of the Army, or we could resolve in our hearts to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity to have the attention of so many people and proclaim the gospel! We will forever be among those few Americans who have obeyed our nation’s call and entered combat. We will forever have the ear of our nation in regards to our deployment experience. So, I ask you, my Battle-Buddies, do not waste this story. Use this story to proclaim the excellencies and happiness of Jesus Christ.
Posted by Sgt. Mark Daniel Waite (US Army)
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