Title To Come

1

Twenty-one days before signing into Fort Stewart, Darren Turner listened to the president addressing the nation on television, not to hear what America was doing abroad, but to learn where he might possibly be headed in a few months.

"Good evening." President George W. Bush spoke from the Oval Office in the White House. "Tonight in Iraq, the armed forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror and our safety here at home. The new strategy I outline tonight will change America's course in Iraq and help us succeed in the fight against terror."

The children were asleep, Elie and Sam in their beds, infant Meribeth snug in Heather's arms. Darren turned up the volume and shifted on the couch, his focus solely on the president as he spoke about the historic elections in Iraq two years earlier and the hope that they might bring the people together — resulting in a need for fewer American troops.

"But in 2006, the opposite happened. The violence in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad, overwhelmed the political gains the Iraqis had made. Al-Qaeda terrorists and Sunni insurgents recognized the mortal danger that Iraq's elections posed for their cause. And they responded with outrageous acts of murder aimed at innocent Iraqis."

Darren glanced over at his wife as President Bush continued. He could see the concern in her expression.

"The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people, and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in Iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me. It is clear that we need to change our strategy in Iraq."

Darren knew there was a big reason for the president to be talking to the American public on this Wednesday night in January. He was leading up to an announcement.

Only a year ago, he and Heather would have been watching like the rest of the country, listening to hear what was happening to other men in foreign countries. Now, however, he watched and waited to hear what might be happening to him.

"Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents, and there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have."

The president spoke about a new plan that could work, how the Iraqi army and national police brigades and local police would be engaged in operating locally to conduct patrols, set up checkpoints, and go door-to-door to gain the trust of Baghdad residents.

"This is a strong commitment," President Bush stated. "But for it to succeed, our commanders say the Iraqis will need our help."

This time Darren didn't look at Heather. He stared at the screen, anticipating what was coming next.

"So America will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad. This will require increasing American force levels. So I have committed more than twenty thousand additional American troops to Iraq. The vast majority of them — five brigades — will be deployed to Baghdad. These troops will work alongside Iraqi units and be embedded in their formations. Our troops will have a well-defined mission: to help Iraqis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs."

Darren moved over and reached for Heather's arm that held the sleeping baby. He smiled, letting her know that things were going to be okay, that God had this taken care of and they shouldn't worry. He knew she was thinking the same thing, yet both of them felt the gravity of this moment sink over them.

Twenty thousand additional troops.

Will I be one of them? Darren wondered. He pictured their children and what it would be like to say goodbye to them.

This is the choice I made. The choice we made.

President Bush was still speaking. "Will America withdraw and yield the future of that country to the extremists, or will we stand with the Iraqis who have made the choice for freedom? Let me be clear: The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are without conscience, and they will make the year ahead bloody and violent. Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue. And we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties."

This is our new reality. And we've known about it ever since I chose to join the army.

2

What am I here for?

The question whispered deep inside of him once again. It was a question he'd been born with and carried around like a shadow his entire life. During his wild and reckless days in college it grew louder, trying to get his attention, urging him to want more out of his meaningless life. So one spring break, instead of continuing to party with his classmates on a beach in Florida, Darren returned home to Canton, Georgia. He also returned to the pages of the New Testament.

He didn't need to "find himself." Darren needed to find faith in someone else. Realizing it might appear to be foolish and against all that common sense might suggest, he turned his heart over to Jesus Christ, deciding to follow Him. In whatever fashion and form that meant.

What am I destined for? This was the new question that he began to ask.

It remained with him as a student teacher during his senior year at UGA. After graduating in 1997, the question followed him all the way to a teaching position in Mongolia, then back to his alma mater a year later, where he became a part-time campus pastor. After two years, as Darren continued to wonder what God wanted for his life, a door opened for a full-time assistant pastor job at a church in Athens, Georgia.

Deciding to follow Jesus meant saying "Not my will, but Yours be done" ... and Darren knew it could get messy and uncomfortable sometimes.

After four years of marriage, Darren and Heather began talking about options other than what they were doing in their church ministry. One of Heather's college friends had married an army chaplain, but at the time that hadn't stirred their interest. They wanted to invest their time and family with a group they could live life with.

Yet Darren always continued to ask: How am I supposed to serve, Lord?

One morning in early January of 2004, he was reading from Psalm 27 when the verses grabbed him. David wrote that even though an army was camped around him and war rose against him, he would be confident in the Lord and not fear. "One thing I ask from the Lord, / this only do I seek: / that I may dwell in the house of the Lord / all the days of my life, / to gaze on the beauty of the Lord / and to seek him in his temple" (Ps. 27:4).

Darren knew right at that moment that this was what he wanted to do. He wanted to bring faith and confidence in Christ into a place of war. Not long after that, he and Heather spoke to the chaplain who was married to her friend, and then they called an army recruiter. Everything happened quickly, and by August Darren had resigned from his church position and enrolled in seminary.

Now, as he lay awake thinking of President Bush's words...