Gold Star Retreat – In The House Of The Holy

To be overwhelmed by the complete spirit of life can change your soul. This past weekend I had the blessing to speak in such a place, a true holy place. It was a Gold Star retreat for survivors of those who had died while serving our country.

It was a STARR event for survivors of those fallen who have served our country. STARR stands for Survivors Transition and Resiliency Retreat and it is put on by our fantastic Survivor Outreach Services coordinators here in Indiana. This STARR event was in Indianapolis and had the support of the Indiana National Guard, the US Army, and the Lilly Foundation. This Gold Star retreat is a true blessing for everyone who attends.

There were a couple hundred of us in a room going through my Ladder UPP program. Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends, supporters – of the fallen. There was grief and anger. There was thankfulness and joy. There was silence and conversation. Crying and laughing. It was the complete cycle of life.

At the core of these emotions, the loved ones who had been lost and were dearly missed. We tend to think of love as romantic or happy, but this was the deepest, rawest, truest expression of love that I had ever experienced outside the birth of my children and my own moments of love with my wife and family when we had to lean on each other to survive. And that is what we were doing in that room, we were leaning on each other. The faces and backgrounds of those in attendance mirrored the variety of our armed forces, but when you are leaning on someone those differences fade away. We are left with humanity, truth, and the knowledge that the most powerful emotion in the world is love. It was a room of love, a holy place.

I always say, look out for each other. This STARR event is what I mean. It isn’t just what we do for others, it is how we live and how the world is changed for the better. The core of “look out for each other” is love. The kind of love that seeks those who need a light, or just a friend.

I thank God for my new friends. I thank God for the moments we shared. It changed me, I hoped it blessed them in some way.

Look out for each other folks. It’s the only good way to live