{"id":230599,"date":"2024-09-25T11:45:09","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T15:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liveoriginal.com\/?p=230599"},"modified":"2024-09-25T14:57:49","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T18:57:49","slug":"god-does-it-differently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liveoriginal.com\/god-does-it-differently\/","title":{"rendered":"God Does It Differently"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 2023, I\u2019m standing in my kitchen at home. I\u2019m getting ready to say goodbye to my son before he flies to Ukraine for a mission\u2014a mission that I won\u2019t be joining him on. And I\u2019m nervous. My heart is already starting to race, my mind facing that familiar threat to spiral down into anxiety. I can feel the fear scratching at the door. Hey, Chad. Remember me? <\/em>I have to take a deep breath and force myself to calm down. It\u2019s all too familiar.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also different.<\/p>\n

Hunter is about to lead another mission to Ukraine, but it\u2019s not him that I\u2019m worried about. If 2022 has taught me anything, it\u2019s that my firstborn son is one of the most reliable, dependable, resourceful men I have ever had the privilege of working alongside. Since the start of thewar Hunter has made nine trips to Ukraine, most of them without me. He\u2019s spent time with units like Safari traveling throughout the country, delivering life-saving IFAKs, training troops in TCCC and how to be spiritually resilient. His comms network now covers almost the entire country, and he has received so many reports of how his work has saved lives. He\u2019s calm under pressure and has the most amazing ability to connect with people the world over. When Hunter talks, people listen. And when Hunter listens, people open up. I trust him to do well, and I trust God for him too.<\/p>\n

So, no, this whisper of fear that I\u2019m feeling is not about Hunter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about Hayden, my second son and youngest child. He\u2019s joining Hunter on the trip. He\u2019s never been to Ukraine before.<\/p>\n

Hayden is a Marine, just like Hunter, just like me, and just like my father. He\u2019s smart, clear-headed and has been working with us at Mighty Oaks for the past year. He and Hunter are going to Ukraine alone, just the two of them, to meet with Ukrainian officials and continue the work with our network of chaplains. But right now, in this moment before Hayden comes over and I say goodbye, knowing<\/p>\n

all that doesn\u2019t seem to be making a whole lot of difference to what I am feeling inside.<\/p>\n

I guess some lessons take a while before we really learn them. Or maybe it\u2019s just that if we want life\u2019s biggest lessons to really take root, we must be prepared to practice them over and over. If we want to grow, we have to be prepared to work.<\/p>\n

All the time I was in Ukraine with Hunter it seemed to me like I was in some kind of spiritual exercise. It was as if God had me doing countless reps of the same questions that had been raised for me back in 2018:<\/p>\n

Do I understand that He loves Hunter more than I ever could?<\/em><\/p>\n

Do I believe that He can protect Hunter better than I ever could?<\/em><\/p>\n

Am I willing to trust God so much that I am prepared to place Hunter in His hands?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t