Soldier with a Mission
(By Chaplain Robinson)
In 1949, my father had just returned home from the war. On every American
highway you could see soldiers in uniform hitchhiking home to their
families, as was the custom at that time in America. Sadly, the thrill of
his reunion with his family was soon overshadowed.
My grandmother became very ill and had to be hospitalized. It was her
kidneys, and the doctors told my father that she needed a blood transfusion
immediately or she would not live through the night.
The problem was that Grandmother's blood type was AB-, a very rare type even
today, but even harder to get then because there were no blood banks or air
flights to ship blood. All the family members were typed, but not one member
was a match. So the doctors gave the family no hope; my grandmother was
dying.
My father left the hospital in tears to gather up all the family members, so
that everyone would get a chance to tell Grandmother goodbye. As my father
was driving down the highway, he passed a soldier in uniform hitchhiking
home to his family.
Deep in grief, my father had no inclination at that moment to do a good
deed. Yet it was almost as if something outside himself pulled him to a
stop, and he waited as the stranger climbed into the car. My father was too
upset to even ask the soldier his name, but the soldier noticed my father's
tears right away and inquired about them.
Through his tears, my father told this total stranger that his mother was
lying in a hospital dying because the doctors had been unable to locate her
blood type, AB-, and if they did not locate her blood type before nightfall,
she would surely die. It got very quiet in the car.
Then this unidentified soldier extended his hand out to my father, palm up.
Resting in the palm of his hand were the dog tags from around his neck. The
blood type on the tags was AB-. The soldier told my father to turn the car
around and get him to the hospital.
My grandmother lived until 1996, 47 years later, and to this day no one in
our family knows the soldier's name. But my father has often wondered, was
he a soldier or an angel in uniform? Sometimes, we never know who God will
bring into our lives to carry out a special mission nor do we know whose
lives God will have us touch.
*God's Word says:
"Then the King will say to those on his
right, 'Come, you who are blessed by
my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom
prepared for you since the
creation of the world. For I was hungry and you
gave Me something to eat, I
was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I
was a stranger and you
invited Me in, I needed clothes and you clothed
Me, I was sick and you
looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to
visit Me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord,
when did we see You hungry and
feed You, or thirsty and give You something to
drink? When did we see You a
stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes
and clothe You? When did we
see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for
Me.'"
Matthew 25:34-40
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