Farewell, Fertile Jon

We remembered a soldier on Tuesday evening in JAF. I'll refer to him by his nickname, Fertile Jon, given because of his age and the number of kids he already had. Unfortunately, his divorce and the hopelessness he felt at reconciliation were a crushing blow that (one assumes) led him to take his own life while he was home on R&R.

His team misses him greatly. I'm sure his parents are grieved beyond words. His children have lost the most of anyone. The US Army and this country have lost a bright young man with a golden future. It is an all-too oft repeated story in this era of service. Last year our suicide rate exceeded that of battlefield casualties - for both Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

So why are so many turning to suicide? We blame stress, deployments, divorces and affairs, and even at times combat stress. However, they each are surface symptoms of something greater. People don't give up and choose this permanent solution to temporary problems unless they sense something of a lack of purpose, hope and worth in life. And what does our contemporary spirituality (or lack thereof) offer a man in the way of purpose, hope and worth? With the rising tide of atheism and the confused spiritualities of the East, nothing, I am afraid.

We must always hold out the One hope, the One who provides purpose, and the One in whom we all will find our true worth - Jesus. He said he was the Way, the Truth and the Life. Purpose, Hope and Worth, defined. As our country steers away from it's Christian heritage, suicide will only become more commonplace, unfortunately. We're only beginning to see it in the ranks of the military because of the extra stresses heaped on top of the soldier at war.

We must continue to hold out the promise of a life fulfilled in Jesus Christ, or we will certainly condemn many to a directionless existence that begs the question: "What is there to live for?" In life and in death, there is but One hope, Jesus.