The pictures below are of an Iraqi family that offered Josh their hospitality. Considering them carefully they seem warm and friendly, and their family life seems heartwarming. I wonder if they felt it was dangerous for them to host American soldiers. The suffering of the Iraqi people is very great right now. It is almost as dangerous for them to live in Baghdad as it is for Josh and his platoon. I was particularly touched by this photo of a little girl standing in front of the gate to her home. Her childhood is moving on in the midst of terrible sectarian violence. She is as sweet and winsome as any little girl her age. What will her future be?

For any of those who have a question in their mind on this point, Josh is one of the good guys. He is not fighting "freedom fighters." He is involved in policing a city where over thirty private, competing militias are struggling for power. Some of these militias have regard for a portion of the population, and absolutely none for other portions. If you are an Iraqi family, you cannot help which tribe or sect you were born into. Extremists from other tribes and sects will regard you as an enemy. Ordinary men, women and children die every day because they were the "enemy" of one militia or another. No one knows when they will be targeted or when someone they know or love will "disappear" only to be found lifeless days or even hours later.

How can Iraqis have a normal life while lawless militias fight among themselves like warlords and use ordinary people as their pawns? It is important that some will pray for Iraq so that relative safety and security will reign. God loves all the men He created and they all belong to Him. The people of Iraq have a place in His purpose and His plan. He depends upon those who know this to pray His will into being.