A fallen soldier's funeral

[Danny Carlton]

Tommorow our church will be hosting the funeral for a fallen soldier. The parents go to a church that is a mission of our church, started a couple of years ago, but will be using our church since it's so big. They are a homeschooling family, very devout, with 8 kids, (now 7). Pfc. Jaron Holliday their oldest son was killed by an IED along with two of his fellow soldiers. He was 21.

We'll be attenting the funeral at 11am, then joining those lining the streets in his honor as the funeral progresses to the cemetery. We'll then return to the church to help with the dinner being prepared for the family, which is expected to last as late as 7pm, so it will be a long day.

We've already been warned that there will be protestors there. I'm assuming it's the same group of crackpots that has been protesting other military funerals. The mother is undergoing treatement for breast cancer, so this is an extremely difficult time for her. The whole family needs our prayers. They paid a huge sacrifice for all of our freedom, and if you guys could remember tomorrow to pray that the family is strengthened and comforted, and that the protestors' efforts are somehow minimized, it would mean a lot.

Our church isn't IFB; we're simply a conservative Bible church, but I thought you'd want to know of the prayer needs.

[John81]

We've lost a few of our young men from this little town too.

In prayer... :pray

[sarcrew]

:pray

Wayne

[Sophie]

Praying right now, and will pray throughout the day and week. Praying that the protesters will stay away. You would assume that they protest the war because they believe in peace and yet they won't leave a grieving family alone to mourn in peace. Ironic, huh?

[jamesnc2006]

Praying for this family... :pray

[tired]

I will be praying. It is probably that cook Fred Phelps, or something like that. I think it is the westboro , I hate saying this, baptist, chuch. I will pray for the family and the many unsaved there to be able to see through this hate groups agenda. That they do not turn off the unsaved in attendance.

[HappyChristian]

Praying - and if this funeral protest goes true to form, there will be some of the fallen soldier's buddies there to protect the family. My heart goes out to them!

[Larry02]

Praying ...

[Junebugwv]

Praying for this grieving family. May the Lord give them comfort and strength.

[IM4given]

:pray I am praying for this family. I just saw this thread, and my heart goes out to the community.

[Danny Carlton]

We arrived early because we wanted to be available if anyone needed any help. Some "Meals on Wheels" people were already at the church preparing their deliveries. We'd brought two ice coolers in preparation for later, and filled them with ice. A few people had arrived early and were already in the sanctuary. We knew there'd be a crowd so we pulled some chairs out and sat in the overflow area.

My wife left to pick up something from home that we'd forgotten. She passed the protestors, and called me in tears, absolutely furious that people would be so cruel and hateful. She said there were Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers near the protestors, with very pained expressions on their faces, speaking of their distaste for having to protect such people. A few blocks away, between the protesters and the church were a sizable group of bikers, making sure the protestors left the family alone.

The video projector came on after a while showing people pouring into the sanctuary and the flag draped coffin not far from where they entered. Just in case, I went to see if they might have space, but as I left the overflow room, the ushers were already directing everyone who wasn't family to where we already were. A few minutes after that the service began.

At funerals people always speak overly kindly of the dead, but in this case it seemed hard to do, because the young man was simply so outstanding. I never heard of the family until we got news of the loss of their son. They belonged to a sister church that our church had started several years ago. They homeschooled their eight children, and the mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer a few months back. More than one person at the funeral spoke of their futile attempt to comfort the soldier's mother, because she inevitable comforted them, instead.

The family said their son was deeply touched by 9/11, and made up his mind there to join the army and protect his country. He was a leader among the homeschooled kids in the local homeschooling group as well as an accomplished pianist. His fellow soldiers spoke of his ability to touch the lives of everyone he came in contact with, and find those who needed a friend the most, and be that friend.

A young woman stood, and explained that her husband who had died a few months back in Iraq, was one of the young man's friends, and they'd promised to look out for each others families, if anything happened. Now both were gone, but the families intended to keep the promise made by their loved ones.

As a dedicated Christian the young soldier's funeral was a contradiction. There was sadness that he was gone, but joy at where he went. It is unfortunate that too many people, not really believing it, have ruined the phrase, "He's in a better place," because it would have been the most appropriate thing to say, but now sounds so hollow out of repeated misuse. But in spite of that, there was indeed a mixture of joy with the sadness. He is in a much better place.

We quietly slipped out early, grabbed our coolers of ice, and filled one with water. A large crowd of people would be waiting along the roadside to honor the fallen soldier as the funeral procession passed. While they'd been told to bring water, the temperature had already reached 103 degrees, and the funeral was going well over an hour longer than expected. We passed out as many cups of ice water as we could find people in need of them, until we finally found a place to stand, past the halfway point of the path of the procession, and even then others came up asking for more water. We had enough for all of them.

We arrived later than most, but still waited almost an hour and a half before the funeral finally ended and the procession made it's way to the cemetery. In the mean time many people honked in support, or asked what event was going on. One car sped by as we stood their holding only flags, shouting to us "BUSH SUCKS!" The young homeschooling mother we were standing near explained to her young sons that the solder had died to protect the right of people like that to be jerks.

As we left the roadside, and walked back to our car, we'd parked almost a quarter mile away so we could gave out ice water, and the walk was hard. One of my son's complained, but I pointed out that while the temperature was 103, the average temperature in much of Iraq where the soldiers are is close to 120 in the shade. I told him, I figured we could put up with a little heart considering what our soldiers are doing for us.

Having to deal with breast cancer has left the mother unable to homeschool her kids for this next school year. they really don't want to put them in government schools. They are trying to raise money to send them to a Christian school located between where they live and where their dad works, so he can drop them off and pick them up. It'll cost $21,000 in tuition for 7 kids for one year, and that's after a huge discount provided by the school. They are trying to get people to commit to a monthly contribution for the school year. If anyone is interested, I can find out more details about who to contact.

[John81]

Thank you Danny for sharing that report.

I do pray they can raise the money to keep those children out of the government schools. They have lost so much already, it would be a compound tragedy if the children were forced into government schools.

:pray

[sarcrew]

Danny, If the son wasn't married, or designated some one outside his family, his death benefits should be able to provide for the schooling. I worked, a few years ago, as an assistant service officer for the American Legion and offer my assistance if the family needs any help in dealing with Uncle Sam.

Wayne

PS - If you want to pm me and I will provide phone numbers to get help at the local as well as State and national levels from the Legion and the VFW.

[Sophie]

Will continue to pray for this family.

[Danny Carlton]

Danny' date=' If the son wasn't married, or designated some one outside his family, his death benefits should be able to provide for the schooling. [/quote']If I understand right, the family was already in need of financial help due to the mother's illness. She's going through chemo-therapy, and would be with that many kids more than likely have already gone through their insurance. My wife has a friend who's out of chemo (from breast cancer) and the bill was over $500,000 and even though she had insurance, she was still left with a large sum to pay herself. My own surgery last year cost $20,000 and I had to pay about 10% of that. I don't know how much the survivor benefits are, but with ongoing cancer treatment, it seems that would be eaten up really quickly.