Deus Misereatur

  A treasure, in it's own right. Charles H. Walker (d. October 24, 2009) tells his story of being a combat officer in the South Pacific, rising through the ranks from 2nd Lieutenant to Major, in "Combat Officer: A Memoir of War in the South Pacific." He was a member of the 164th Army National Guard Infantry Regiment of North Dakota. A true citizen-soldier, he often served under the direction of regular Army officers and their West Point fraternity. A sore spot that is clear all the way through the book.  Though the episodes Walker recounts are not gory, they are gritty and real. He narrates the fear, anger, frustrations, insensibleness, and sadness of being a combat officer leading his unit into harrowing situations. From the time he landed in New Caledonia in October of 1942 until his discharge in October 1945, the reader who plows through these pages walks with someone who saw, smelled, and heard live-fire combat. It was hard to put the book down. The value of a volume ...

  In my devotional reading this morning I came back to something Jesus said that is worth sharing. I was in Matthew 7, and it was especially Matthew 7:1-12. It goes like this: [1]"Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you . [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.  [6] “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. [7] “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seek...

  With Paul and all of the Apostles, along with the saints and martyrs who have gone before, and with our brothers and sisters world over, we lift our hearts in adoration: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ...