Tears In Paradise

"Semper Fi"

Two days ago a Marine helicopter went down in a sandstorm in Western Iraq. Thirty-one Marines and one Seaman were killed; all who were aboard. Twenty-seven of those men (they were all male) were deployed from Marine Base Kaneohe, on the Windward side of Oahu, about a 45 minute drive from where I live.

Although none of them (so far as I know) were from Hawaii, their spouses and children live here, attend school here and work here. Many U.S. and Hawaii State flags have been lowered to half-staff. Counselors are visiting schools helping staff learn how to deal with the deaths of a child's parent or friend's parent. I expect that some of the Marines may have attended a church somewhere on the island or may have coached little league or a soccer team nearby.

A retired Marine officer commented that a helicopter crash such as this can happen any time in any place. It could just as likely have happened at Camp Pendleton or some other mainland Marine base as in Iraq.

This does not bring me any solace; nor will it make any surviving family or friends feel any better, either. They are gone. All of them. In a moment. In a twinkling of an eye. Like Icarus we have attempted to tame the heavens and, like Icarus, our frail mortality has humbled us; bringing us back down to earth in more ways than one.

Yet the One who made the heavens and the earth is still Lord over all...including these fallen soldiers. We can do little more than trust them to the care and mercy of Almighty God and, for those who have faith in Jesus Christ, claim the certain hope of life beyond life and the resurrection to eternal life.