Sermonstudio

We all remember Desert Storm. The United States and her allies came out on the winning side of a tense battle with the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. When Desert Storm came to an end after tense months of waiting and a few short days of actual fighting it was time to take stock of things. The most grievous task was counting up the dead and notifying loved ones back home. Each unit had to account for all of its personnel. Who was alive? Who had been killed? Who was missing in action? Private Benny Blades was one of those listed as missing in action in his unit. There was no body to prove evidence of death. No one could remember seeing him wounded. His disappearance was a mystery.

Mystery turned into miracle one day about a week after the fighting had ceased when Private Benny Blades was picked up along the road by some soldiers returning from the front. The men and women in his unit were overjoyed with Benny's return. That night they held a great welcoming ceremony for Benny. His comrades wanted to hear his story. What happened to him? How did he survive? What had happened to his legs? Benny told his story. He had been wounded by Iraqi fire. Took several bullets in his legs. Unable to move he could only lie on the field of battle and hope that someone would rescue him. On the second day of his ordeal he was rescued -- by an Iraqi soldier. Groans and laughter followed Benny's words. How could this be, the soldiers wondered?

"I talked to the soldier myself," Benny went on. "His name was Ahmad. He said he saw me lying on the field of battle from his battlefield outpost. What's more he saw two of our jeeps pass fairly close to where I was without stopping to help."

What Ahmad had seen were a chaplain and a medic. The chaplain slowed his jeep as he came by the area and saw a soldier lying there. He was a bit afraid of the area, however. Furthermore, he was to hold services back at the base very shortly. He just didn't have the time to stop. The other jeep that Ahmad had seen was driven by a medic. The medic had been called north for a serious emergency. It was on his way that he spotted the soldier lying in the field. But this was just one wounded man. He was on his way to tend many. And so the medic, too, left Benny lay.

Benny continued his story. "Ahmad said that when he saw our jeeps pass me by he thought he'd better do something himself. He came to me in his vehicle, tended my wounds, then drove me behind their lines to a medical unit. He ordered the medical personnel there to look after my legs. They did a good job. Ahmad came around a number of times to make sure that I was getting proper treatment. Isn't that something? Who would ever have believed that there was a good Iraqi soldier out there who would save my life? He's a real hero to me I tell you. Without his help I'd be dead. Ahmad will always live in my heart as a kind of model of the good life."

There was stunned silence among Benny's comrades as he finished his story. Finally Terry Slawson spoke up. He spoke for just about everyone in the room. "Sorry Benny," Terry began, "but I don't believe a word of it. I really don't. There is just no such thing as a good Iraqi soldier." Everyone cheered!