wfn.org | UMNS# 04449-Soldier returns from Iraq with stronger faith

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Soldier returns from Iraq with stronger faith 

Sep. 30, 2004	 News media contact:   Fran  Walsh * (615) 742-5458*  Nashville {04449}

NOTE: Photographs and a UMTV report are available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Feature
By Allysa Adams*

When mortar shells are flying over your head, praying seems appropriate. Army Sgt. Justin Price of Arizona found himself talking to God a lot during his one-year mission in Iraq with the 1404th Transportation Company.
 
"I remember praying, 'You know, God, I am here for you. I want to fulfill my purpose, whatever that is, but please don't let it be in Iraq. I want to go home to see my family; I want to raise my son and see my wife again.'" 

Amid violence, destruction and death, soldiers often question or doubt their faith. For 24-year-old Price, those experiences actually strengthened his.

The transportation companies were responsible for getting supplies and gear to soldiers and civilians throughout Iraq. It was, Price said, some of the most dangerous work in the country. His unit was based near Tikrit in the Sunni Triangle, a hotbed of unrest.

"We were the easy ones to hit," he said. "We weren't armored and we didn't have a lot of weapons, and the enemy knew that." 

One night, after escaping a particularly scary ambush, Price had almost had enough. Lying in bed, he challenged God. "I said, 'God, if you are there, show me a sign.'" The next day, he returned to his bunk to find a stack of letters from friends at Trinity Heights United Methodist Church in Flagstaff, Ariz. The following day, there was another stack, and the third day the same. Then the light bulb went off. "Wow, I think I got my sign," Price said to himself at the time. 

"So for me, my faith increased so much because I know God is real," he said. "He answered my challenged."

 From that point on, Price found handling the day-to-day rigors of Iraq easier. Still, war tested him in ways he could not have imagined. Though no one from his company was killed in Iraq, he saw and faced death almost daily. 

"Mainly what I saw in death was children, and that was always disturbing," he
said. "You ask yourself, 'Why? Why did this happen?'" 

Price didn't find easy answers, but he found a purpose. The people of Iraq
needed help badly, and that was where he concentrated his energy. The
soldiers in his company delivered food and water to Iraqi civilians who'd
been without basic necessities, often for weeks at a time. He helped rebuild
schools and clinics. He concluded that God brought him to Iraq to help the
people.

Price sees an inherent contradiction between the military mindset and faith.
The military teaches the soldier to be in control and that control is what
keeps danger and chaos at bay.	But faith requires giving control to God. 

"It's tough to remember that, overall, you get your orders from God," he
said.  

Not wavering in his military duty, Price maintained control over the men
under his command and kept faith in his fellow soldiers. He also leaned
heavily on God. That faith got him out of bed every morning with a positive
attitude, he said. 

Over time, he said, he saw too many signs to deny God's existence. There was
the flat tire that kept his company from traveling one day; another
transportation company that made the trip was ambushed. There were many near
misses with bullets and mortars. 

"So many things happened to us, and I was like, 'Wow, God does care about me,
and I'm home for a reason.'"  

Today, home is in Show Low, Ariz., where Price, his wife and 2-year-old son
moved after Price returned from Iraq. After six years in the reserve, he is a
staff sergeant with the Active Guard Reserve and plans to make the military
his career. 

War changed him, in many ways, for the better. His wife, Lora Beth, said that
now he spends more time with his family and recognizes that even a little bit
of that time makes a difference.

"I have that fire in me now," Price said. "There's that understanding that
God is real." 

Before the war, Price said he believed, but his faith wasn't strong. He
doesn't recommend war as the means to build faith, but he advises finding the
small things that are signs from God: children, grandchildren, new jobs and
loving relationships, whatever good is in your life. 

"There's good all around you," he said. He should know. He even found it in
war.

*Adams is a freelance writer and producer based in Phoenix.
   
News media contact: Fran Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5458 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
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