When Does It End?

"Where did you get this?" I ask, holding a postcard picture of another soldier headed to battle.
"Picked it up at church this morning," the Drummer easily replies as he walks by me in the kitchen.
"Oh," I turn it over in my hands, reading every word, but picturing his parents' and wife's heart breaking.

My heart sighs, another soldier, another prayer. 

When will it end? 

The agony of war affects more than the soldier.

I think of a friend's son, graduating from boot camp.
We'll be praying for his safety soon as well.

I think of all those we've prayed for over the past year...
my cousin taking a second turn,
the group of soldiers our church adopted in prayer,
my husband's cousin serving in the midst of combat,
another cousin, training and preparing...

When does the list end?

And, I know, it won't. 

War won't stop all together.
Suffering and hardship goes hand in hand.
As long as we wear these skins of flesh,
there will always be sin, strife, and struggle.
Somewhere, somehow, people will be in conflict.
But we won't stop praying for those who serve and their families.
~ Dorie

For us, and many of you, the list won't truly end until...

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;

for the first heaven and the first earth passed away,

and there is no longer any sea...

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying,

'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men,

and He will dwell among them,

and they shall be His people,

and God Himself will be among them,

and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes;

and there will no longer be any death;

there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain;

the first things have passed away."

Revelation 21:1,3-4