Soldier Says Serving U.S. Is More Than His Job -- It's His Calling
by Chad Groening
May 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Christian member of the U.S. Army National Guard says he believes America's military is ordained by God, and that he has been called to serve in it.Staff Sergeant Geoff Wagner is assigned to the 155th Armored Brigade of the Mississippi National Guard. Last Saturday he shipped out for three weeks of annual training. But the husband and father-to-be left knowing that his unit might be deployed, and that he could be separated from his family for a much longer time.
Nevertheless, Wagner considers the National Guard his calling, and he says he is ready to do whatever God and America require of him. "I'm a very patriotic person -- I love this country," he says, "and if God calls me to lay down my life for my country, then I'm willing to do that."
The staff sergeant says he considers the U.S. the greatest country in the world, and he feels it is his Christian duty and privilege, as well as his job, to help protect it. "Our military has been ordained, I believe, by God. It's part of a government set up by our forefathers," he says.
Wagner contends that America's founding fathers wanted Christian men for its military, and envisioned that its fighting forces would be made up of people of strong faith and character. He says General George Washington himself felt that "a person being in the military had to be of high moral standard," and that the great leader actually gave orders that members of the military should be churchgoers, should not use profane language, and should be generally outstanding, moral people.
As a Christian soldier, the staff sergeant tries to observe that same high standard of character and moral strength. And if called upon to lay down his life, Wagner says he is ready to do so. The guardsman says he is not afraid for his family because his church has promised to take care of them should the Lord call him home.
