This morning I decided to hop on my bike and ride in the early hours.  Now, to me, an early hour this summer is before 9:00 a.m.  So, I did.  I hooked up to my ipod and begin to peddle on the shaded trail I love so much.  As I was admiring the beauty of the morning and enjoying the cool breeze, a song came on my ipod that I usually skip.  It is sung by a country artist, Toby Keith and the title is "American Soldier".  Not that I have anything against a song about a soldier, but after living through 13 months with my mom when my oldest brother was serving with the Air Force in Da Nang, Vietnam, I don't readily listen to songs or watch movies about war.  It was war enough to watch the news every night with her and then watch and listen as she went into the bathroom and cried.

However, today I listened.  Today I was reminded of the sacrifices our military makes on our behalf.  Not that I didn't already know it, but when you put a face to a name, it means a lot more.  So, here's the rest of the story.  Yesterday, I was looking on Facebook to find one of my son, Nicholas's, friends that just became a father.  As I was scrolling through all the pictures trying to find this young man, one of the pictures was another young man, about Nicholas' age, in military fatigues.  I looked intently at his face and then continued scrolling.  After hearing the song this morning, it seemed God began to nudge me to look up this young man and send him a note to thank him and encourage him as he serves our country.

This young soldier will probably think I'm nuts, but when the Spirit moves, I listen.  I don't know what will become of my message to him, but I pray that today he will be uplifted knowing someone cares and appreciates the job he's doing.  After all, he's an American Soldier.  God bless, my friends.