Many of our military forces are also fathers. They face all the usual challenges of fatherhood, but also have to cope with several added stresses: frequent separations for deployment or training;  moving every few years for a change of station; and occupations which are often classified and thus cannot be shared with their families.  

Military fathers are special people, and they not only need our prayers this week, but also throughout the year as they strive to provide spiritual leadership for their families while away from home in the service of our country.

The fathers of our military men and women warrant our prayers as well.  They can only watch and wait while their loved ones serve in harm's way aboard ships on a distant sea, or wage combat on foreign soil.

Islam has nearly 100 words to describe God, but none of them connote the image of a loving father, perhaps because Mohammed's own father died before his birth.  Those verses in the Quaran which do speak of Allah's love invariably describe it as conditional - "Allah loves those who turn to him; Allah loves those who do good; Allah loves those who fight in his cause; Allah does not love those who do mischief," and so on. For Muslims, therefore, Gods love is predicated entirely upon their works.  Pray this week that members of Al Qada and the Taliban will come to know God as their loving father, and begin to understand that their evil works in His name are not the path to eternal salvation.