DAY 20- STEVE MATHEWS

Day 20 – March 27, 2025

Led Out of the Wilderness of Worry by Steve Mathews    

In 2005, our eldest son (Josh), having just completed High School, and led by his convictions, decided to pursue a career as an Army officer.  To that end, he enrolled at North Georgia College & State University, attending on a full Army ROTC scholarship.  His freshman year of college went well, but by that Spring, Josh had decided he needed to first serve as an enlisted soldier before he could effectively serve as an officer.  So, he enlisted in the Infantry and headed to Ft. Benning (now Ft. Moore) for Basic, then Airborne training.  He was soon assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg (now Ft. Liberty).  The 82nd Airborne is an elite Infantry group that specializes in parachute assaults, rapid deployments, and demanding assignments.  

Within weeks of his arrival at Ft. Bragg, his unit (the 1/504th Parachute Infantry Regiment) was deployed into combat in Baghdad, Iraq.  Despite the fall of Saddam Hussein, conditions in Iraq and especially in Baghdad were extremely dangerous.  As infantry soldiers, Josh and his unit would patrol the city on a daily basis in their vehicles or on foot, often encountering enemy fire or improvised explosive devices (IEDs).  The war was constantly on the news and the danger was ever-present.  

Back home in Huntsville, Luci and I decided quickly that we must limit our exposure to news media, though this didn’t do much to help with the worry.  For security reasons, and given the limits of technology back then, we heard from Josh very rarely.  We communicated by email with other families from his unit, sharing the few official updates that were made available.  But mostly we were in the dark about was going on, and how he was doing.  His deployment into combat went on for more than 15 months.  Truly we were in the wilderness: a wilderness of near-constant worry about the war, and not knowing how our son was holding up.  

We realized we would have to let go and put our trust in God’s provision for Josh and his fellow soldiers.  We just had to turn it over to God, in other words.  Through ongoing prayer, and with the support of our family, friends, and FUMC family (the “angels” who attended us), we managed to come to terms with Josh’s deployment and get on with our lives.  When he came home for a brief visit at the 9-month mark, we were honored when so many of our church family joined us to greet him at the Huntsville Airport!  His combat deployment never became easy for us, but at least we were able to cope.  After many months, we wept tears of joy on the tarmac at the Ft. Bragg airport upon the safe return of Josh and his unit.  

There is much more to this story, including Josh’s miraculous path to graduation from West Point and becoming an Army Officer, his marriage to a fellow Officer, and additional combat deployments (to Iraq, and later to Afghanistan).  Through all of their deployments, we have relied on God’s provision to keep them safe and to keep us out of the wilderness of constant worry.

Psalm 91:1-2 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust!”

Truly we can find security and refuge in God, even in times of uncertainty and not knowing! 

Prayer:  Dear Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they go into harm’s way to protect us.  Deliver us from the wilderness of constant worry.  AMEN!