The knot inside me tightened down a bit and I steeled myself against the tears I felt rising. The presence of his hand (he was still holding mine from the handshake I gave him minutes before) brought one back to the reality of the mo ment. I bent over to speak softly and say some private words in that very busy, public ward. As I leaned over, I clearly heard the Lord’s fa miliar words: “ Pay attention.” I straightened, looked directly at him, and said, “ May I ask the Lord about this?” He said I could and immediately shut his eyes. Never had I ever needed God’s words more, and never did God meet the need more definitely. Weeks before, my pastor, Dr. Ted Cole, had talked about man’s greatest problem being his broken ness and his needing to be made whole. I prayed about the horrible sight of a man missing both legs but of how much worse a man was who was missing part of his heart. A man without a whole heart, a heart made whole by Christ, was indeed, a man missing far, far more than legs. I can’t recall all that was prayed because that’s how it is when the Holy Spirit takes over a prayer. When I ended, the young soldier grew very excited and I’ve rarely seen such hope in a face. He said, “ Oh, ma’am, that’s what I needed. Boy, did I need that! Hey, Chaplain,” he called, "te ll ’em I’m ready — they can give me the de cision now — I’m all ready, really I am!” I don’t know what the decision was; I don’t know if the young man made a born-again commitment to Christ; I don’t know what life will hold for him. I do know I’ll never forget those moments in Camp Zama Hospital in Japan and I’ll never forget his words, “ I want to be a whole man.” I pray that God reminds me from time to time that my brokenness, my missing parts and my life with out hope does not exist now— be cause He has made me whole. Happy birthday, dear C h ris t Child. I love you! KB
Over ¿^Gap CtfGoffee
by Joyce Landorf
T he community service award presented to me in Hawaii by Four-Star General Ralph E. Haines reads: To MRS. JOYCE V. LANDORF For distinguished meritorius service to the military community of United States Army, Pacific, while serving as guest speaker for the religious program. Mrs. Landorf spoke to numerous chapel groups in Hawaii, Okinawa, Korea, and Japan and shared the resources of her devout Christian faith. Her humorous and interesting speeches, flavored with a rich musical talent, strengthened and inspired her listeners spiritually. Mrs. Landorf’s outstanding performance con tributed to the development of good citizenship and reflects great credit up on herself and the military service. It’s a beautiful document and one that gives me a rich source of pleasure. It represents 18 days of wildly hard work, s in g in g and speaking for hours on end, and the experience of stretching my ver- sitility to surprising horizons. The document leaves out my hospital touring of singing and speaking, but I know I've been there! Okina wa’s fabulous hospital and Camp Zama’s sprawling complex in Japan
presented endless opportunity to share the healing love of Christ as well as music's soothing lift. In Japan’s hospital, many boys were air lifted in from Vietnam and over and over again I was tearfully and fiercely proud of these magnifi cent young men. They continued to amaze me with their humor and unbelievably high morale. One young man, lying there all covered up, didn’t look in bad shape to me, so I teased him about taking up space when others REAL LY needed that bed. He smile but quickly said, “ Well, ma’am, they are upstairs right now deciding whether or not to take both my legs." It took some seconds for me to recover from his stunning words but I managed to say, “ That’s pret ty scary, isn’t it?" He nodded and said, "Yes, but that's not all. I’ve an 18-month-old son I’ve never seen and when I see him I don’t want to be half a man. I want to be a whole man— with both legs.”
23
DECEMBER, 1970
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker