Yesterday I e-mailed you an email, forwarded to me from Bob and Nancy Hall. Kathy Schnell mailed me information written by a minister in Mason City, which I share with you today:

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Thanks for your inspirational messages. Here is one that if find speaks more for me. Kathy.

Praying every day

The Rev. Samuel Hamilton-Poore, Mason City

Every day I pray (many times) for a quick and peaceful resolution to the war in Iraq. I pray for our leaders and the leaders of the world; for the lives of our troops and the lives of Iraqi people.

This does not mean, however, that I “support” this war — either as a Christian or as a U.S. citizen. The men and women of our armed forces are people of great honor and courage, but our national leaders have sent them into a deadly sandstorm of moral and political confusion.

We pre-empt the work of those who are finding and destroying weapons in order to find and destroy weapons. We violate international law in order to enforce international law. Ignoring the democratic process of the United Nations, we become a rogue nation in order to bring democracy to a rogue nation.

We castigate dissenters and squelch free speech in order to bring free speech to a nation where it is not allowed. We declare a war “just,” even though most religious leaders throughout the world call it “unjust.”

We say this is not a religious war, and yet we label Sadaam as Satanic and pledge to bring Iraq “God’s gift of freedom” (President Bush’s speech on March 17).

We use our overwhelming might against a vastly inferior opponent to prove to them that might does not make right. We kill in order to heal, and destroy in order to rebuild.

And so, even though I cannot support this war, I do pray for the men and women who have been dispatched to fight it. They deserve our prayers, and they deserve better leaders.

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Anyone who has comments, I look forward to your sharing them with me!

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Our daughter, Jamie Champion, told us of a sixth grader from Des Moines, who is in their church: Mazie Johnson has a cousin in the military conflict. Mazie wanted to do something, so she began "Operation KISS (Kids in Support of Soldiers)". She is working to get kids to write letters to the military and she will see that they get to the troops. Anyone who has kids who want to write letters, get them to me and I will pass them to Mazie via Jamie. Yesterday, Jamie forwarded me a new web site that Mazie and her family are getting up and organized. The site is: www.operationkiss.com