Last year our congregation, along with many others, participated in a campaign to provide teddy bears to our troops so that they could give them to the children in Iraq. It seemed like a pretty simple thing to do, yet we found out later what an important role those teddy bears played in Operation Iraqi Kids.

I had a direct connection with a young soldier who lives across the street from me. He is a sergeant with the 38th Military Police company. He told me that soldiers who treated the Iraqis with contempt are the ones who became targets, while the soldiers who were courteous were in turn accepted and their chances of coming home alive were greatly increased.

There seems to be a lesson here for living life no matter what country we find ourselves. If we treated each other with dignity and respect there might be more peace in our homes, communities, and the world. Just a thought.

On Sunday, July 19th, Broad Ripple UMC was presented a flag that flew over the soldiers of the 38th MPS. That flag will reside in a special case in a prominent location as a reminder of the importance of doing all that we can to help people. We always tend to think that it has to be a big task to matter, but sometimes all it takes is a few teddy bears. Say a prayer today for those soldiers who are still bravely serving this country, and when one comes home be sure to thank them for their calling and their sacrifice. Shalom.