I woke up this morning to look at the caller id on my cell phone. It was ringing with "unknown" in the window. I thought to myself..."better answer, after all it could be a call from Iraq". Now, I have never received a call from someone across the ocean. I don't even remember talking to my brother when he was overseas. I was not even expecting a phone call. But when I answered it was, in fact, the long lost voice of my friend Joe, calling from the front lines of the war.

All weekend long, I have felt a strange weight about something. The longer I keep in contact with soldiers who fight for freedom, the more I read about the stories that are taking place, the closer I feel to the front lines. Have I seen or tasted of the death that they face all day long? No. Have I slept in the bitter sands and missed the sight of home? No. But my heart breaks, for the soldiers who lay their lives down, for the oppressed people of Iraq who long for freedom.

This war, like all in ages past will shape the history of this world. Out loud I ask, what is this world coming to? In my heart, I cry out, why this way? I have only understood war from the perspective of a text book. I have heard stories, romantic and gruesome, of strangers who sacrificed their lives and won victories for the freedoms I enjoy today. This is the first time that I know those who are there. This is the first time that I can connect those around me with the current events we are now facing. I have no words to describe the aching inside of me. I feel helpless. I feel humbled. I am in awe.

And now, after reading A Table in the Presence, I feel as if I have seen a new facet of the power of God. Indeed, He is moving among the nations. His purposes will be accomplished. War is necessary, inevitable, powerful, effective. It is gruesome, heart wrenching, terrible, full of death. One seeks power by selfishly twisting and infringing upon the statutes of freedom, the other seeks freedom from that power. I know Jesus. I know the end result. I know that He seeks the peoples of those nations who are at war. I know that He longs to be known by them. The picture is bigger than you and I. It is bigger than one war. It is bigger than only one country. God is moving among the nations. Behind this war there is a people struggling for life. And beyond every news report is a story of God's faithfulness. He is restoring. He is bringing new life. Lord, let us see it with our eyes too. Restore our hope in the days to come.