Like many of you, my heart has been a tad bit overwhelmed by all of the bad news in our world today. From the coronavirus spike to the fall of Afghanistan, it just seems to be one bad news piece after another. I tell myself not to watch or read the news, but the pull towards all of the quickly developing stories is just too enticing at times.

The fall of Afghanistan was particularly hard for me to read about. I’m still in frazzled awe that the Taliban (an extremist terrorist organization) could overtake the country of Afghanistan in just a few weeks. I mean, after two decades of war, thousands of lives killed and injured, and trillions of dollars being invested over there, all of our efforts at nation building seemingly went up in a puff of smoke.

You know, it’s funny how history repeats itself. From the fall of Saigon to the fall of Afghanistan, the similarities are eerily similar. In fact, after hearing of the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, I immediately texted many of my Afghanistan War buddies – the new Vietnam War veterans…

Their thoughts, as you can imagine, are all over the map. From low-grade sadness to complete rage…Many of my friends who fought and bled over there are just simply upset and confused by the Afghan military’s cowardice, the speed of the Taliban, and the seeming incompetence of our nation’s leaders to respond.

You know, like many of my Afghanistan War buddies, I know the pain and challenges of war. But I served in the Iraq War, not Afghanistan, and I’m just at a point where all I can do is deeply empathize with my fellow brothers-in-arms and pray for them. I wish I could do more.

Then, there was yesterday, August 26, 2021. The bloodiest day of conflict in Afghanistan since 2011…13 U.S. service members from the Marine Corps, Army, and Navy were killed near the Kabul airport. How my heart hurts for these brave service members and their families. Indeed, their sacrifice is not in vain, but try telling that to the rest of the Afghanistan veterans right now…

As a former Army intelligence analyst, I truly fear that a great and new “Axis of Evil” is rising in our world today. And as a red-blooded American, I am truly hurt and angry at our foreign enemies and our domestic leaders who are responding to these foreign threats. But (long pause), as a believer in Jesus Christ, I must rest in God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love. I mean, what else can I do? Where else can I go? He (that is Jesus Christ) holds the words of eternal life (John 6:68). In these difficult and dark days, I choose to look up and trust my God…He’s got this. We certainly don’t. But He does.