Military ball article

I posted this on FB, but things get pushed down the page pretty quickly there and I wanted to give this link another mention and a more permanent home.

When my daughter Cassie told us on Sunday she'd been to a military ball thrown by her husband Nic's unit the previous night, I had no idea I'd be reading about it online the next day.  It really brings home for me what they're going to be up against in the next 12 months.

Please keep Nic and his unit in your prayers throughout the year ahead.  There are lots of small things to pray for, so it's easy to keep things fresh throughout the course of the long year:

• Pray for their safety.
• Pray for the peace-seeking people they're going to encounter there.
• Pray for their conversion, to whatever extent they may need it.
• Pray for the conversion of those they oppose, who feel that attacking civilians is a justifiable way to achieve their ends.
• Pray that our troops will not become so jaded that they succumb to the temptation to embrace such violence themselves.
• Pray that they and their loved ones will remain bound closely together during their time of separation.
• Pray that their families will be protected from harm in their absence.
• Pray that they will be emotionally protected from what they are likely to witness or even inflict.
• Pray that they will return home safe and well.
• Pray that they will be instruments of peace in the midst of a world at war.
• Pray that they will overcome the threat of terrorism decisively and honorably.

And thank you in advance for praying with me for them.