Monday, May 31, 2010

Honoring The Fallen, Praying For Those Serving

On this Memorial Day, my mind is on the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. We should all be very grateful to them. And a local man is making sure the ones who are still in harm's way has some spiritual support.
Sheila here. I filed a Faith Works report this spring about Bobby Vallandingham. He is a veteran of the war in Iraq, and while he was serving, his late grandfather started non-denominational prayer services for our troops in 2005 at the Trucker’s Chapel at the TA truck stop on Ky. 18 in Florence. Bobby says he keeps up the tradition because he could feel the prayers when he was overseas: "I knew I had people praying for me. Being separated from my family, I had a lot of strength. I felt a lot of strength from people praying for me, and I know faith was vital in that because other believers were lifting me up."

Leaders of the service read the names of service members. When our cameras were there, they read the name of Tracy Goodart's son, who is serving in Afghanistan. She says, "We feel the presence of God when we come here."

The service is held on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. Bobby calls it a divine appointment. "It's the least I can do to come here and pray for those serving, who are weary, who are separated from their families. I'm faithful to them since others were faithful to me."

No comments:

Post a Comment