By Scott Eaton, National Guard chaplain and InFaith field staff candidate

After three short weeks of being diagnosed with cancer, a soldier’s wife passed away. As his chaplain, I received a phone call and headed for his home, thirty minutes away. By the time I had arrived, many soldiers had already converged on his house. Some were mowing, others pulling weeds from the flower bed, and even more were carrying groceries into the house.

While I was talking to my soldiers, the husband came outside with some of his family. He said he just wanted to say thanks to everyone for coming out to help. He said he also wanted to say thanks to me, the chaplain. I was the only one who had taken the time to pray with him. He said he had plenty of people tell him, “You will be in our prayers,” but no one actually stopped what they were doing and prayed.

With all my soldiers now gathered around, the man began to describe how prayer to the one true God was what had gotten him through his wife’s illness and is what would continue to get him through his grief. He said he learned that he would never again tell someone that he would be praying for them, that if he didn’t stop what he was doing right then and there to pray, he was nothing more than a coward and should be ashamed of himself.

How many times have I done this? I hear of someone having a bad day or something gone wrong, and I reply with, “I will be praying for you.” From this day forward, may I never again be a coward! My challenge is that I never leave someone with a promise, but with a prayer.