Dear Soldier,

My son, Brady, is a college student who just returned from a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters National Park up on the border of Canada and Minnesota. He was gone nine days. When I asked if he'd had a good time he paused. "No. But I'm glad I did it."

There had been good times. There were friendships were built, times of reflection and learning, quiet times of deep peace and spiritual growth. But overall, it was hard work and much to endure surviving in the wilderness, paddling across lakes, portaging through the forest with gear, waiting out the rains. He is grateful for the experience and would even gladly go again. But it was not fun. He made sacrifices and that grew him up some.

It was only a short time and compared to what many of you are enduring it is not comparable... but in some small way I think it is. When you come home you can feel proud. You can feel stronger. You will have changed and, if you let it, you can use what you have learned, what you have endured to be a better person. You can become a kinder, more tolerant person, one who searches and finds the good in any situation.

God has a hand in everything. He doesn't make the horrible situations we find ourselves in but he is there. He will use it to make something better. We may never understand what it is but we can live gratefully knowing that God is there.