Stopping to Think

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam by Harold G. Moore My rating: 4 of 5 stars Moore and Galloway weave together an intense and fascinating narrative, taking the reader into some of the first major engagements of U.S. troops in the Vietnam war. But while the relation of the battles themselves is engaging and emotionally moving, that's not all there is in this book. There are no punches pulled when Moore speaks about the failures of the Johnson administration, and there is no heartstring left un-pulled he quotes from the individuals who lost loved ones in the battles in the Ia-Drang that fall of 65. View all my reviews  

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who ...

This is a reworking of a poem I wrote almost three years ago. I'm still not much of a poet, but I have improved. The emotion in this poem deserved better than my original words conveyed. -The Scourge- They had marched and fought for months with little food to eat And several weeks had passed since they last had tasted meat They marched ore fallen logs, and through the powd'ry fresh snow Praying the morn to see, along with sun and its warm glow The howling wolf and freezing fog, had beckoned in the night A time that ev'n hardened men must wrestle fits of fright That great and mighty men should fear, is unbelievable you say Yet through fear they pushed on through conflict night and day Courage, it is said, means not the lack, but rather, facing fears This these men had done, holding fast through blood and tears "War is a Scourge," we hear is what the wise men have all said They'll be shown right, when in the morn, our heroes are all dead

A sense of urgency.  It's something I desire greatly.  I have been listening to a lot of Christian hip-hop lately, which is odd for me cause honestly I'm kind of a country music guy, and most Christian music just annoys me with it's lack of depth spiritually.  But I ran across some stuff by Lecrae and Tedashii one time while looking for John Piper clips on youtube.  And I was greatly intrigued.  Here was an artist(s) who pounded the gospel song after song.  And not in some soft, warm and fuzzy, type of way.  You can't listen to much of their music (or others, such as Trip Lee) without hearing about the Gospel and the affect it ought to have on my life today.  And it has given me pause to think.  How am I living?  Do I live each day as if it were my last?  Not only my last, but the last of a friend?  Do I really believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven?  If so, why do I deny Him with my actions, why do my words not cons...