LifeTIMES
A monthly ministry of Lord of Life Lutheran Church of Maple Grove, Minnesota
Faith & Duty
by John Rodvik, United States Army Reserve (USAR), Retired
W
e all remember where we were on that morning in September 2001. For me I was on Shelard Parkway in Plymouth driving in to work. I heard the news on the radio and knew immediately that sometime soon—somewhere in the world—I would be involved. In addition to my civilian career, I had spent almost 19 years as a United States Army Reservist and was looking at an easy last year in order to get my 20 years in and then retire. However, I knew as I walked into my office that my soon-to-be retirement would have to be put on hold. At the time I was serving as a First Sergeant in a Psychological Operations Company based in Arden Hills, Minnesota. As First Sergeant, I, along with my company commander, was
in charge of 112 highly specialized soldiers. Due to the nature of our military specialty we were a unit that tended to be called upon on a semi-regular basis even before 9-11. My first mobilization was when my oldest son Jason was nine months old. I and seven other soldiers from my unit were sent to serve with NATO forces in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina on one of the very first rotations after the peace accord had been signed. As part of that deployment, I was given a small camouflage Bible that I would carry with me throughout the rest of my military career. It was in
Bosnia where I was able to witness my son’s first steps via a videotape recording that my wife Lucy had sent. Although I missed being home I really had no complaints because I would remember the soldiers who came before me who did not have the luxury of videotapes or workable phone lines. My second mobilization was the call to orders that I knew was coming after the 9-11 attacks. On January 2, 2003 I received the inevitable call at my place of employment. Later on that day I packed up my desk, said goodbyes to my coworkers then on —continues on Page 10
FreedomWorks and the color of love by Cheryl Myhr
L
ord of Life volunteers have given back to the men and ministry of FreedomWorks by adding color to the apartments, offices and community gathering space of the Welcome Back Center. The color of prison is drab and institutional. The color of the Welcome Back Center was drab and muted. The color of love and freedom is anything but drab. Thanks to the generous gifts of time and materials by sixteen Lord of Life painters, —continues on Page 14
July 2012 “For me to live is Christ” Philippians 1:21a
July 2012