Men and women come home from war with limbs missing. Their body parts lay in the dirt of some foreign land. American blood stains another person yard, and yet they keep standing for what is right. Our children can't pledge allegiance to our flag but burning it is okay. Our politicians open our borders but American children cannot go out into the city streets and play. Drugs and violence end innocent lives while politicians complain about civil rights, unless you try to mention God or own a gun then they say you have no rights.  Our leaders turn their backs on their own people while running down the land of the free. If the haters of our country had their way they would take all our freedoms away from you and me.

Hobbits had their holes and dwarves shook mighty mountains with their picks in an endless quest for gold. The forest were alive with elves and fairies and birds could talk to men. Dragons and eagles soared under the sun. Men built cities on the water and sailed on mighty ships across dark seas. How wonderful it was when the world was magic and perhaps can one day be again.

Men sit in silence as they surround a metal box. The roar of the engines is all that can be heard. A flag drapes the coffin upon which sits a simple emblem, elite special forces. What he did is known only to a few, it may be 50 years or never before we all know the truth. Men who choose a different path now reflect on what has been done. One of their own has paid the price, a hero that will remain unsung. His family will receive a letter and a medal posthumously. Some will know he died a hero, but silence is their creed. Many could have gone a different path, they could have been an athlete.  Instead they heard a higher call, one that most will never understand. Suffering the rigors of training that few will ever see, they work to achieve excellence, to take their place among the elite. The best our country has to offer, they go off to fight in wars. In places that we have never heard of, against enemies that we may never know. Knowing each mission could be their last, and that the flag draped coffin could be all that they get as a reward. The hidden heroes of Americas special forces, do what must be done, so that we can live in peace in the land that we call our home.

God is in my pocket, where I carry a few extra dollar bills. He goes with the money when I give it to do his will. God is in my heart to convict me of my sin. He is in my prayers when I ask for his forgiveness again. God is in my life when I think I cannot do anything right. He lets me know I am not alone in this fight. God is in the sick beds and in the nursing homes. Despite what people thinks, he does not leave his children alone. God is in the rain storm when the earth cries out with thirst. God is in the city streets when we go on to our work. God is not just in one place you see. If you think about God can be found in you and me.

On a cruel tree blood and water did flow. From a broken body the sinful world was made whole. In anguish he cried as the spear went in deep. Then rivers of salvation from his side did seep. He gasp for one final breath and said father it is done. Then the sky grew dark and the earth trembled at the setting of the son. A Roman solider looked on and said truly a righteous man has been slain. Yet salvation was born when they pierced his side that day.

The needle in my arm just hangs there. The burning sensations have disappeared. I am becoming numb as I turn ashen. I see the lights becoming a blur. As I lay on my bed, I think finally I have killed my pain. My breathe becomes shallow, each one seems like my last. I can no longer hear the noises, everything is simply a buzzing in my ears. Perhaps this is it, perhaps I will not come back this time. As I slip into unconsciousness, I feel a slight chill ,as I enter the blackness the world grows cold around me.

I have a mirror cut from black glass, it stands in a frame hewn from dark wood. The surface is finely polished so that your reflection can be seen in the faintest light. Some people who see it think it is quite odd, but it is very practical you see. Because when I look in my dark mirror I see my truest self, not a pretty lie that the world wants me to see.