kerygmatao
Random word list:
ruberythrinic
kerygmata
smouse
nucleoalbuminuria
Tonawanda
Word chosen: kerygmatao
Definition:
The preaching of the gospel of Christ, esp. in the manner of the early church.
Free association word list:
proselytize
Bibles in China
Mandrake (nickname for a friend)
green berets
Iraq
war
fairness (as in love and war)
sports
World Series
Rockies
pitchers
wussy!
Titus
dad
Word chosen: Bibles in China
Writing:
A friend of mine, Mandrake, decided that he wanted to see the world. He tried to do this by becoming a Merchant Marine with the hopes of getting paid to travel the world. Turns out that those are the cush jobs that require 20+ years of being a Merchant Marine. He did his year stint to pay off the schooling, but it was in the Bering Straight aboard an oil tanker. Yep. He was even there during the harsh winter. I don’t envy his time aboard his ship.
After he was done with that, he joined up with a group that paid his way into China, but the catch was that he had to smuggle Bibles into China along the way. Before he left I had asked him what the punishment was for doing such a thing. I got the answer that I expected: Death. He did add that it was rare for the Chinese government to execute a Westerner for this offense.
He vanished off to the Far East to smuggle some bibles, and was apparently very successful since he made it out alive. I never did hear his stories about the smuggling operation, but I did hear that when it was time to come home, he wasn’t ready. Instead of hopping on the first flight home, he packed up his stuff, took what little cash he had, and started walking west. He ended up hiking across Asia, the Middle East, and into Europe where he then hopped on a plan and came home. I’ve heard this story third or fourth hand, so I’m not sure of the accuracy of it, but it’s a damn good story either way.
After his trip across the world, Mandrake joined the military with the goal of becoming a Green Beret. He made it through the training, and worked his way to where he was being considered. There was a single higher-up in the food chain in the Army that refused to sign the paperwork. Mandrake could have fought the rejection, but he just wanted to be a soldier. Rather than hold up his deployment, he accepted being assigned to the Rangers, and shipped off to Iraq.
That was well over a year ago, and he’s been in Iraq up until a week or so ago. He just made it home to thee States, but he hasn’t managed to make it back to his home town just yet. I’m eagerly waiting for him to rejoin us (however briefly it may be), so that I can hear some more of his stories about the world.
I know that he made it home physically intact. I just hope and pray that he didn’t come back mentally or emotionally broken. I’ve heard more and more stories about veterans seeing so many horrible things that they just can’t cope with civilian life. We have big fancy words for it: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I prefer the World War One phrase: Shell Shock. You’ve experienced so many horrible things that your mind just can’t cope with it. There are so many things that the mind can handle before it snaps. Different people have different levels of stress that they can handle before permanent damage is done. I just hope that Mandrake didn’t come near his limit.
