Conversation with an Italian POW from WWII
Greetings all you awesome people! Hope your Christmas was Merry, and your New Year rocked. I am officially back at my desk, though it seems I have a massive amount of things that need to be done. I have decided being overwhelmed is a strength zapper and I refuse to be zapped. I am choosing to be at peace, and rest in the fact that God is able. We had some exciting doors open up for ministry while we were gone, and I am prayerfully working on some others. If you know of, or are a pastor especially in the Central FL, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, PA, etc area please let me know if you’d be interested in us coming to minister. If you are outside of those areas we can make it work, these are just areas I will be touring.
Like always when I travel and spend sometime away, I come back filled with stories of our trip and little lessons learned. I wanted to start by writing a blog about getting to meet an extended family member of my husbands. This uncle was captured during WW2. He was fighting for the Italians, and was actually held in a POW camp in Arkansas. Today he is a proud Canadian citizen. I am a history buff, and a lover of hearing people’s stories so it is no doubt I found the idea of getting to talk to this man intriguing.
Through bits of very broken English and hand gestures, bits and pieces of his story came out like water in a rocky stream. He had been captured and sent into a US POW camp. They were given supplies to make their own food, and I saw a picture of him outside of a tent that had been his home.
What I found so precious and remarkable about his story is spaced in regular intervals was him continuing to say, “Put God first and the rest will follow.” While English was not his native language, I knew what he was saying. Before me sat an old man who had lived through the horrors of battle, but learned to live. One must continue to trust in God. He held no ill will to American’s. He kept telling us that as a whole the Italians and Germans were good people, but just had bad leaders.
Him continuing to remind us to put God first was wisdom He wanted to make sure he passed to us. Here is the same sentiment in the Bible.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
He is a survivor and He wanted to make sure we understood why the war, captivity, or the conditions in Italy before the war did not break him. His answer was simple. He kept God first.
I sat on his couch a cold Canadian afternoon feeling like I had been reminded an important life lesson. Maybe the lesson is simple, but its an area we all seem to trip over on occasions. It can get so easy to be caught up in circumstances, disappointments, and moments we can never change. Spending time with an Italian POW from WW2 reminded me, that life is not really life unless God is first. Spending time with him reminded me that in order to be a person of wisdom, I had to look to the wisdom of God. I hope his story and message inspires you as it did me. Remember, God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited!
Like always when I travel and spend sometime away, I come back filled with stories of our trip and little lessons learned. I wanted to start by writing a blog about getting to meet an extended family member of my husbands. This uncle was captured during WW2. He was fighting for the Italians, and was actually held in a POW camp in Arkansas. Today he is a proud Canadian citizen. I am a history buff, and a lover of hearing people’s stories so it is no doubt I found the idea of getting to talk to this man intriguing.
Through bits of very broken English and hand gestures, bits and pieces of his story came out like water in a rocky stream. He had been captured and sent into a US POW camp. They were given supplies to make their own food, and I saw a picture of him outside of a tent that had been his home.
What I found so precious and remarkable about his story is spaced in regular intervals was him continuing to say, “Put God first and the rest will follow.” While English was not his native language, I knew what he was saying. Before me sat an old man who had lived through the horrors of battle, but learned to live. One must continue to trust in God. He held no ill will to American’s. He kept telling us that as a whole the Italians and Germans were good people, but just had bad leaders.
Him continuing to remind us to put God first was wisdom He wanted to make sure he passed to us. Here is the same sentiment in the Bible.
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
He is a survivor and He wanted to make sure we understood why the war, captivity, or the conditions in Italy before the war did not break him. His answer was simple. He kept God first.
I sat on his couch a cold Canadian afternoon feeling like I had been reminded an important life lesson. Maybe the lesson is simple, but its an area we all seem to trip over on occasions. It can get so easy to be caught up in circumstances, disappointments, and moments we can never change. Spending time with an Italian POW from WW2 reminded me, that life is not really life unless God is first. Spending time with him reminded me that in order to be a person of wisdom, I had to look to the wisdom of God. I hope his story and message inspires you as it did me. Remember, God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited!
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