Blog Challenge Day 7

#7 A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.

This is a picture of Cpl. John Stalvey. He was killed in action October 3, 2005 while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Other than my salvation, his death was probably the biggest turning point in my life. Things that were true on October 2, 2005 have never been true again and truths I had never discovered before that date have been glaringly evident every day since.

John was the cousin of a good friend of mine growing up. John came and lived in Conroe after he graduated high school and I'm pretty sure all the girls in our youth group (myself included) fell in love with him. His smile was swoon-worthy and his sense of humor and genuine kindness made him a friend to everyone. After September 11th John felt God calling him into the service of his country so John joined the Marines. He served in Afghanistan and Cuba before going to Iraq in 2005. John used his time in each of these places to glorify God and share the Gospel with anyone who would listen.

On October 3, 2005 an IED hit the humvee John was riding in and he was in Heaven before he even heard the explosion. In the days that followed I saw John's testimony come to life through his family. John and his family sacrificed his life for our freedom and so the message of freedom could be spread through the world. In my mind this is as close as a human could get to replicating the sacrifice made by our Father in heaven. Jesus gave His life for our freedom from sin and that the gospel of that freedom could be sent to all the world.

Not only did I have John and his selflessness to look at but also the amazing peace and grace that God gave to John's family, specifically his mother. Crystal Merillat chose to cling tight to Jesus in those days following John's death and ever since. So close in fact that just after the visitation for John at the funeral home she gathered up all the Marines who were charged with the duty of watching over her son's casket and she presented them with the most beautiful gospel message I've ever heard. She spoke of how John's sacrifice was nothing, NOTHING, compared to the sacrifice that Jesus made. She also said that while John died for the cause of freedom, that paled in comparison to the cause of eternal life which Jesus died for. That image of Crystal standing in the middle of a circle of young Marines is forever etched in my brain.

If I had to pick out just one lesson that I learned from John's death I think it would be to live a life that is worthy of being sacrificed for the cause of bringing others to a relationship with Jesus. John is greatly missed here on earth but I know he's experiencing perfect joy in Heaven as he's worshiping his Savior.