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Iraq POWs and Relatives Rely on God
Faith will see them through war ordeal, they say
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By Andy Butcher
Relatives and friends of some of the American soldiers captured and missing in Iraq have told how they believe faith in God will see them and their loved ones through their ordeal.
Edgar Hernandez, one of the 507th Maintenance Company troops captured Sunday after an ambush near An Nasiriyah is a committed Christian who is likely offering spiritual comfort to some of the other POWs, according to the family's pastor, Stephen Lugo.
"He has a great belief in God and has a great respect for everyone around him," Lugo -who pastors the Biblical Apostolic Organization in Alton, Texas - told "The El Paso Times." "Our consolation through this whole thing is that we know he is in the hands of God."
Pictured on Iraqi TV along with other captured and killed U.S. servicemen and women in scenes last weekend that shocked and angered Americans, Hernandez had joined Chaparral Apostolic Church after being stationed at Fort Bliss in 2001.
Pastor Alex Uribe's daughter Diana, who befriended the 21-year-old, described him as "like a big, loving teddy bear who is always thinking about others, not himself." She told the "Times": "I know him, and I'm sure he's in constant prayer right now."
Family and friends are due to gather at Historic Greater Friendship Baptist Church in Cleveland, Mich., this evening for a special prayer vigil for associate pastor Tandy Sloan's son Brandon, missing in action since his 507 unit's weekend ambush.
His father described the 19-year-old as "God-fearing and easy-going," said the Associated Press (AP). "He was very much committed to the cause of country," he said. "He's got a pleasant demeanor, and he is very loyal to his friends."
Kimberly Sloan told "The Detroit News" that she was "doing the best I can" since learning her son was listed MIA. "It's hard," she said. "All I can do is pray." Neighbors tied yellow ribbons to trees and doors to show support, and passed out leaflets asking people to pray.
Members of Olivet Baptist Church in Wichita, Kan., have been supporting longtime congregant Jessa Miller since her husband, Patrick, was captured along with Hernandez, Sunday.
The mother of two young children was "pretty numb," pastor Ron Pracht told the Baptist Press. "We're praying with them." Pracht said that he had performed the couple's wedding ceremony at the church about a year ago and provided their pre-marriage counseling, during which the 23-year-old serviceman had accepted Christ.
Bobby Massey, pastor of Valley Center Assembly of God a few miles north of Wichita, said Miller had visited the church as a youth. "Obviously, all the churches in town have him on their prayer chain," he said.
Speaking at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, today, following yesterday's arrival back in the U.S. of the first bodies of fallen American servicemen, President Bush told assembled military personnel: "We pray that God will bless and receive each of the fallen, and we thank God that liberty found such brave defenders."
The president also cautioned that the war was far from over and that coalition forces would face "the most desperate elements of a doomed regime" as they neared Baghdad, said the AP.
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