Tonight I watched the HBO movie Taking Chance. I knew it would be a powerful movie when I saw the trailer a couple of weeks ago. It was that and much more. When you watch it you will never think of war and sacrifice the same as before.

I was moved by the meticulous care the military, particularly the Marine Corps, care for the body of the fallen. I knew the Marines never left a body on the field of action. But I never knew the reverence taken for the body as it is prepared with full honor and transported to it’s final resting place. Respect, honor and reverence are the watchwords to describe the process. This movie shows it all. It teaches the forgotten lesson in this world that no one is a “throw-away” statistic. Everyone counts. No one is left behind and forgotten.

One line from the movie has a character saying to the escort, played by Kevin Bacon, ““You’re his witness now. Without a witness, they just disappear.”

I am preparing a Beyond Today program called, “And Wars Shall Increase”. It is based on Christ’s statement in Matthew 24 about war in the time of the end. This is a tough subject to cover in thirty minutes and do so in a manner that gets the point across and delivers a message of hope and warning at the same time. War is hell. It ravages a people and leaves behind tears and despair. War tears the heart of hope from a nation.

In this program I intend to work in a story of my father’s World War II service. The war changed his life in ways I will never understand. The life I watched him live was formed in the aftermath of that experience. Not until his time in the resurrection will I know him as he was before he was inducted. I long for that day.

When this scourge is lifted off the earth we will begin to see the dawn of God’s kingdom. Restoration will include the lives of the falen, both military and civilian, in all the wars of the world. But this will not occur until the coming the Lord. Pray God to speed that day.