Killing Me From the Inside Out

I woke up this morning to the thought of an incident that happened while I was in the Army, stationed at Ft. Polk, LA. I was the only female soldier from my unit who lived in the barracks, so my experience was QUITE interesting. There was very little to do in Leesville, so I found a church that I loved and became an active member. This church offered many ministries, so before long, I was attending several times per week. Most of my fellow soldiers would see me at PT, at work, occasionally in the mess hall, and in the evenings heading out with my fancy little Bible case on my way to church. Many of the guys in my unit obviously decided that I needed protection from the wolves and declared themselves my big brothers. These fools grilled anyone who came within 10 feet of me and screened my calls (no cell phones at that time!). You would have thought I was under witness protection or something!

One day, a guy who had been checking me out from a nearby battalion stopped to chat with me as I was returning to my barracks from duty. My barracks was one of many that housed several battalions and formed a large courtyard type of area. Unbeknownst to me, a soldier from a neighboring signal battalion saw this guy approach me and decided to take it upon himself to let the guy know that I was off limits.

"Hey, you can't talk to her. That's 'The Little Church Girl'!"

The guy who wanted to talk to me then stepped back quickly as if he had been seared with a hot iron, contorted his face and said, "YOU'RE 'The Little Church Girl'? Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry." He quickly proceeded to exit stage left.

Seriously, Dude?!! Who in the heck was the idiot yelling out the window from across the way anyway? I didn't even know him. And what in the world had people been told about 'The Little Church Girl'? I was angry and wanted immediate answers at that point, so I grabbed the nearest 'big brother' by the scruff of his collar. (Truth be told, I could probably beat the crap out of most of my 'big brothers' despite them wanting to protect me!) In fear, he just said, "It's nothing bad. It's just that everyone knows that you are... like... really HOLY." I didn't know if I should laugh or slap the daylights out of him, so I released him.

Well, I see I won't be getting any dates at Ft. Polk.

At church, the prospects were slim to none as well. There were some single guys in my age range, but they were trying to find who they were in Christ, so all of their conversation seemed to include "thee" and "thou" a lot. So yeah, there were going to be no dates there either.

It was high time for God and I to have a little talk because this was getting out of hand. (How young and naïve and stupid I was! LOL)

Me: What is the deal, Lord? First off, ALL of my friends got these cushy assignments overseas, but you sent me to the armpit of the Army. Now you have made me a social leper. What is my lesson here- to see just how long it takes to kill me from the inside out?
Him: Yes.

To be continued...