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Author and JAG officer urges soldiers to trust God in combat

Frank Selden, a Judge Advocate General officer with the Washington National Guard, says many soldiers struggle with their faith as they face combat situations.

For nearly a year and a half, Selden served with Task Force Olympia in Mosul, Iraq. Contrary to other combat experiences, Selden says his time in the war zone did not diminish, but strengthened, his faith in God.
 
Selden has chronicled his Operation Iraqi Freedom experiences in a new book titled Finding Faith in the Fury. He says many soldiers struggled with their faith as they saw colleagues, many of whom were Christians, killed or wounded during the fighting. Some soldiers assumed Christianity literally shielded them from physical harm.
 
"They would turn to certain ... Psalms which would talk about people falling by your right hand and left, but not you, and how to really get strength [from that]," he explalins. "And basically it almost would build up this immunity -- [a] 'things can't happen to me because I'm a Christian' type of attitude.
 
"And then something would happen to them, or they would have a friend who also had that attitude and something would happen to them. And there were people saying 'Christianity doesn't work; God doesn't work; all these things I'm trying, they're not keeping me safe,'" Selden points out.
 
Selden, who is also an ordained pastor, says he challenged people to trust God no matter the circumstances. He also believes relationships among the Iraqis are improving and that they can govern themselves.
 
"There is a rift, of course, between the Shiites and the Sunnis and the Kurds. It goes back thousands of years -- we definitely saw that in play. But we also saw Iraqis from all three of those backgrounds working together ... to build their city, to build their airport and projects that they had in common. We saw that on a daily basis. So I personally believe they are quite capable of self-government," Selden contends.

AMEN!

Brother, I know from talking to many returning troops that GOD is a big part of their lives. Many people do grow closer to CHRIST and stronger in HIM during the trials of this short life. Combat is a unique kind of trial, but it's like many others in that people can use the experience to grow in the Strength of CHRIST. I'm happy that we have strong and mature Christians to help and guide the younger Christians, especially in combat. This is an important ministry, one that we should be praying for every day.

Love In Christ,
Tom