To my brother...after 16 years

Michael,

This isn't a letter I ever imagined I would need to write. One of the SEALS who took part in the mission that killed Bin Laden summed up what's going on in our country right now when he said this:

"I cannot believe I fought to defend you."

I never thought I would see what I'm seeing right now in the country so many in our family have fought to defend--the country you died to defend. There is so much division right now, and it's promoted and encouraged by those who claim to be serving the people. Everything has been turned into some sort of "us versus them" situation, no matter what.

But the crazy thing? People don't seem to realize that the "us" in this picture should be the American people, and the "them" should be all those who are determined to see this country fall.

Those who have been elected to office across this nation have somehow managed to convince people that the values which have always defined our country aren't worth defending. They are encouraging rioting in the streets and calling that "peaceful protesting" while demanding that church doors be locked. Elementary teachers are saying they are worried about parents being in on conversations with children, some even going so far as to say "parents are dangerous" because they could throw a kink into plans to brainwash them into thinking Christian principles are bad. They are teaching children that everything wrong is right and everything "conservative" is extremism and bad. There are shows and magazines aimed at kids that are promoting Marxism, "transgenderism", and the destruction of the family. We are being silenced when we try to stand up for what is right.

Maybe that's not the right way to put that. Maybe we aren't being silenced--we are just being silent.

Too many of us are letting your sacrifice go to waste. We are taking a step back from the battle that's raging around us, claiming that this isn't our fight. The thing we're forgetting, though, is that this fight we're seeing raging around us isn't "just political." Too often we try to separate the physical world from the spiritual and pretend like our fight should be confined to one or the other.

But this battle that's flaring up all around us? It's the result of the greater battle going on in the spiritual world around us. What better way for Satan to malign the name of Christ than to get the US--a country that is synonymous with "Christianity" to so many around the world--to fall into such an ugly mess? After all, if what people are seeing in the US represents Christianity, they definitely aren't going to want to have anything to do with it. He has played an ugly game for so long that people don't see it for what it is. He is turning people against each other at a rate I can hardly believe, let alone describe. And the horrible thing is, we are letting him.

People are spewing hate-filled words at each other, and all too often both sides are arguing that you can't call yourself a Christian if you don't think like they do. We are hiding behind masks and computer screens and doing Satan's work for him. All he has to do right now is sit back and watch us destroy ourselves.

I owe you an apology. I've been too quiet for too long. I've been watching as the country you fought and died to defend burns itself to the ground. I've been silent as this country made it okay to steal, abandon, abuse, and kill the youngest and most defenseless. I've kept my mouth shut as people claim that everything the US has stood against in the past is now what we should be running toward--socialism, communism, atheism, Marxism...call it what you want, but it's all the same in the long run.

Michael, my heart hurts to tell you that you wouldn't recognize this country today. I know you would be in the thick of the fight, standing up for what you know is right and standing against all those trying to tear down everything that is good--no matter the cost. I think you're probably still in the thick of the fight, right in the middle of the spiritual battle that is raging between the armies of heaven and those that have fallen.

Your poem comes to mind more and more lately, but I haven't been a very good example of doing what it says. Instead of standing against the fiery arrows, I've spent too much time hiding. When my spirit has been crushed and I've felt weak, I've let myself wallow in the dirt lamenting all the ways nobody is doing anything.

I want to stand. I want to make you proud. I want to stand against those tearing down this country--but most of all, I want to stand beside you in that spiritual battle.

Love you always.