RSS/XML |
|
Essays |
Main Page |
Disclaimer |
|
|
Essays |
Main Page |
Disclaimer |
|
The future’s fortunes are opaque; we see now as through a glass darkly, and so live each day with fear, faith and hope
Yesterday my eldest son, Lance Cpl. Stephen Sensing, deployed with his unit to Iraq. His mother, brother, sister and I traveled to Camp Lejeune, NC, to see him of. Cathy’s dad, from Durham, went with us also.
He was released Monday at 10 a.m. until noon Tuesday, so we had a very good visit with him. Then he and his unit drew weapons and gathered their sea bags at the barracks to await transportation. The time of departure slipped a couple of times, but not by much. They shipped out to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC, on commercial buses about 30 minutes later than the originally scheduled time.
At MCAS CP they flew by chartered commercial air to Kuwait; I don’t know the route. Just as I was typing the last paragraph, Stephen called from Kuwait to report he arrived fine and there were no problems. He couldn’t talk but a moment, so that’s all the news we got, but it was wonderful to hear his voice and know all was well. He did say he doesn’t know just when they’ll move into Iraq. He does know where they will go, but I’m not going to include that here.
Below are some thumbnails of some other photos. I have posted full-size versions on a separate page, with some words.
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
. 
Comments policy
An online news and commentary magazine concentrating on foreign policy, military affairs and religious matters.
Editor:
Donald Sensing
Columnists:
John Krenson
Daniel Jackson
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Aug | Oct » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
16 queries. 0.640 seconds
September 14th, 2005 at 6:39 pm
I will pray for your son’s safety and for your peace of mind.
September 14th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
Ditto. God’s blessing on your son, and prayers for his safe return.
September 14th, 2005 at 7:55 pm
God bless you Donald. I will pray for your son tonight, and also for you and your wife. I could not imagine how you feel right now. May the Lord grant you comfort and peace.
September 14th, 2005 at 8:24 pm
TO: Donald Sensing
RE: If….
…you’ve taught him well…
…you’ve NOTHING to fear. Neither does he.
God’s blessings and peace be upon you all.
Love,
Chuck(le)
September 14th, 2005 at 8:34 pm
My wife and I will add you, your son, and your family to our prayer list. We also have a 2LT son in Iraq as a tank platoon commander in the 3d ACR, so we know how you feel. We love your blog and appreciate you so very much. We are also Methodists. Gayle and Carolyn Garner
September 14th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
Donald,
I have followed your son’s trail as a Marine ever since he entered boot camp and we were given weekly updates. My father was a Marine Officer and I am a Chaplain at the Iowa Veteran’s Home so your son’s story was very meaningful to me. It got a lot more meaningful this past August when my youngest son enlisted in the Marine Corps delayed entry program. He will depart for boot camp next June and my pride in him and envy of him are both strong.
May God bless and protect your young warrior, returing him safely to you. May He also grant you His peace as you watch from afar.
September 14th, 2005 at 9:26 pm
May God keep him safe from all harm and return him with honor.
Bless you all.
September 14th, 2005 at 9:30 pm
God bless him, and be his shield, and give him a safe return.
September 14th, 2005 at 9:39 pm
Donald,
When you can, communicate to your son that even though we’re not personally aquainted, we are honored by, and deeply appreciative of, his service. The same is true of you, your wife, and other children. Thank you.
I’ll add your son and his unit to my Disciple class’s prayer list.
Hey Stephen, you rock! We love ya. And we thank you.
September 15th, 2005 at 2:33 am
I too, pray for your son. Sixty-one years after my aunt lost her Marine Corps officer husband at Rabaul, and even as she moved on with her life, she can shed a tear over her loss and what might have been. I want your son to fulfill his responsibilities and return home safely to the arms of those who both raised him and grew up with him.
Because of my views on Iraq, I get a lot of e-mail insisting that I want our service people to die in Iraq. Considering that members of my congregation are there now or recently were there and considering that a grade school friend of my was decapitated by terrorists in Iraq, I admit to being perplexed that so many think they know my heart in that way.
The fact that you continue to support the invasion of Iraq and our continuing efforts there in spite of the danger to the one you love so dearly is proof positive of the sincerity of your belief that Iraq met/meets the “just war” test. I will honor you for that and also include your son in our discipleship group prayers. Every church service includes prayers for all who serve, however.
After reading your blog for two years, I’m still puzzled that you think the invasion was either necessary or contributed to world stability, but I don’t doubt your integrity on the issue.
September 15th, 2005 at 6:08 am
God Bless you and your family, Don. You’re all heros. Godspeed to Stephen.
and Joel, bringing up your opposition to the war in a post like this further proves the insensitivity of the antiwar crowd. Shame on you. I pray that someday you’ll learn the time and place for such drivel.
September 15th, 2005 at 6:58 am
Godspeed to Stephen. My youngest son came back from Iraq in March, so I empathise with your emotions. But I’m choking up now remembering our emotions when he came home. Because he was waaaay out in the boonies, he got access to a satellite phone every Tuesday, and he called his Mother every Tuesday! She made up an e-mail from each phone call and sent it to friends and family, then his brother and sister forwarded them to his friends.
He came back in fine shape. I pray your son does, as well.
September 15th, 2005 at 7:32 am
Dawn Patrol
Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs, other blogs, and the mainstream media. If you’re a blogger, you can join the conversation. If you link…
September 15th, 2005 at 8:00 am
Semper Fidelis is not just a motto.
September 15th, 2005 at 8:46 am
Praying for Stephen and his safety, the safety of his comrades, comfort, hope and assurance for you and your wife, wisdom for our leaders, for peace achieved by clear victory, and for God to return as is said He will and with Him bring the peace that surpasses understanding.
Much, much respect for and to you Rev. Sensing.
September 15th, 2005 at 8:53 am
I praise God for your faith, your family and for Stephen’s willingness to serve our country. I will pray for you and your son. I pray you will draw peace and comfort from the knowledge that God is sovereign and that all our country is going through right now, at home and overseas, is a fulfillment of His plan; and, that God loves those who love Him more than we can ever know. May the peace of the Lord be with you all!
September 15th, 2005 at 8:54 am
As a Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam, I will pray for my brother, your son. Take heart that he goes into harms way with the best trained and best equipped fighting force in the history of man. I know he will return safely. Semper Fi.
September 15th, 2005 at 9:01 am
Your son, your family, and you yourself are in my thoughts and prayers, especially now.
Thanks for all you do, Reverend, and thanks to your son, too.
September 15th, 2005 at 9:54 am
I am proud of and grateful for your son’s service. May God bless him and his family during this time.
September 15th, 2005 at 10:11 am
Thank you for your sacrifice.
September 15th, 2005 at 11:05 am
Saying goodbye is the hardest thing in the world to do. After the first deployment we all made a pact and quit doing it. We leave the day before departure and say goodbye before they mount up. Our son’s choice actually and it is easier. For all concerned. Plus he’s real busy in his billet at time of departure. Wish I could tell you Reverend that it gets easier but even after four goodbyes it is still just as tough as the first.
Glad you got your “I’m here” phone call. Remember that first letter you got from him at Boot? heh! Seems like a lifetime ago now huh? Hopefully he’ll be stationed on one of the bigger forward bases and have some access. If not it’ll be every couple/few weeks before you hear from him.
And it will be getting cold there very soon! Underarmor Heat if he doesn’t already have it. MotoMail is a wonderful thing!
God Bless you and yours! Thoughts and Prayers!
Semper Fi!
September 15th, 2005 at 11:51 am
Best wishes for all. God bless your son, your family and you as well, Rev. Sensing.
September 15th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Thank you for sharing your son with our nation. He represents what is best among us. The tradition of our country is that the cream always rises to the top. We are so proud of your son, and the men and women who serve with him.
May God grant His peace and grant you strength. May we be worthy of their efforts on our behalf.
September 15th, 2005 at 1:49 pm
I will say a prayer for your son’s safe return. The best of the best now wear desert combat fatigues. They are a truly magnificent group of young men and women. I saw them in Afghanistan last year and marveled at their professionalism and bravery.
Semper Fi and carry on
September 15th, 2005 at 3:50 pm
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon and be gracious unto you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance to you and give you the peace that passes all understanding.
Shalom and Semper Fi.
September 15th, 2005 at 3:51 pm
God bless your son and your family.
Thank you for your son’s brave service.
He is a true hero and you as I know you are should be proud of having raised such a brave and noble son.
God bless America.
September 15th, 2005 at 3:56 pm
God love Stephen and his family,thanks and Psalms 91 I commend to both.
September 15th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
[…] posts. He’s truly one of the decent men of the blogosphere. Did you know he recently bid godspeed to a son bound for Iraq? Yesterday my eldest son, Lance Cpl. Step […]
September 15th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
I will remember him in my prayers. May God be with him today and always.
September 15th, 2005 at 4:56 pm
It really hurts to see how young these kids are that are going off to do our fighting. God Bless these courageous lads. These are indeed the best of the best of our youth. Any one of these kids is worth 1000 whining twenty somethings that think they know it all, yet haven’t been out of their hometown.
September 15th, 2005 at 7:02 pm
I salute your son for his sense of duty, commitment, honor, and sacrifice. Please express my thanks and deepest respect for his choice of service. May our Lord bless all of you, and just know that there are many who will petition our great God for his protection. Allow me to share a portion of your pride and respect in a fine son. Let me know how I may help in any way.
THANK YOU Lance Cpl. Stephen Sensing . . . my thoughts, prayers, gratitude and support are with you.
September 15th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
I am new to your blog, but understand all of these emotions… We will pray for Stephen, his comrades and your family and pray for a safe tour for Stephen (eyes up, butt down!)
September 15th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
God bless you and your wonderful son, Stephen. I did not understood at the time what havoc my two tours in Vietnam wrought upon my Mom & Dad. Now my precious son-in-law, the true love of my daughter’s life, is preparing for deployment to Iraq. Now I know and now I can empathize. The Hand of God is and will be upon them both.
September 15th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
Your son’s willingness to serve our country will protect our children and grandchildren from fighting these islamofascists in our cities in the future.
We will pray for his protection.
God bless you,
Joe and Jade Sackett
September 16th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
God Speed and God Bless…
September 17th, 2005 at 1:45 pm
Rev. Sensing -
May the Lord sustain you, your wife, and the rest of your family while your son serves overseas. My nephew and his wife are 82nd Airborne, so I know something of the concern you shoulder. No word yet on where they’ll be deployed.
I also wanted to say thank you for the link you recently gave me on my post, “Where is God when the wind howls?”
Blessings,
Greg (Eight Iron)
September 17th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
As one who spent a very short time in Iraq and 20 years in the Navy I know what your son is experiencing. I am proud to have served with the Marines. Gen. Matthis said this before his command went in…
“Fight with a happy heart and strong spirit. For the mission’s sake, our country’s sake, and the sake of the men who carried the Division’s colors in past battles — who fought for life and never lost their nerve — carry out your mission and keep your honor clean. Demonstrate to the world that there is ‘No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy’ than a U.S. Marine.”
Praying for your son.
September 17th, 2005 at 9:46 pm
Having a son who had been deployed and numerous others from my church and community who are deployed, I feel your feelings and sense your strong faith. God be with Stephen and with you all in the days ahead.
CH[LTC]Marty
September 19th, 2005 at 6:08 am
Do you know what his FPO/AP mailing address is? I’d be more than happy to send care packages. I was with 1/3 Bravo Co. from Marine Corps Base Hawaii. We got back from Iraq not too long ago. Having been there mysel I know that care packages are more important than anything, no matter who they come from. I also have a really good idea of the kinds of things he’s going to want.
September 19th, 2005 at 10:05 pm
Thanks for serving, stay safe and healthy and if you need something send us an e-mail! Senper FI!