Chapter Three - part four

   James went home and spent the remainder of the day with his family. They were staying until Sunday after services. James had to be back from leave Monday morning and Sarah wanted to get back too. Sarah didn't know what had happened today, but she was glad it had happened. James had come back and walked into the house like a new man. She had looked into his eyes and the fear was gone. She had asked him what had happened and he had just laughed. Then he had kissed her and whispered softly. "God, God happened to me Sarah." He had said no more and she had asked no more. She didn't need to know more. That was enough for her. Late that night alone in bed he had told her about it. She had listened and she understood the sudden change in him. She had understood, because she had felt the fear leaving her as they had talked. She slept soundly for the first time that week. She finally felt safe and secure again in the arms of her fearless warrior, her Ironman. She felt safe because she knew God was with them.

   They returned to base and James returned to duty. Sarah stayed on leave for another month. Joseph Paul was six weeks old when she returned to duty. He was barely four months old when they got a big surprise. Sarah was expecting again! Once the shock wore off they were both thrilled. That soon changed though. James was being sent to New Mexico to actually begin testing the modifications that he had helped design for the pulse cannons. He would be there at least six months, possibly longer. Sarah couldn't or wouldn't be going due to the upcoming birth of their next child. James wanted her to stay close to home and with doctors she was familiar with. He would try to get leave around her due date and hope for the best. That was all they could do. It was still duty before family in the military.

      It seemed that God was still blessing them though, because James was home on leave when his baby girl was born. Marie Elisabeth Cooper was her mother's daughter. She looked exactly like Sarah. She even had her smile. Once more it seemed that God's timing was perfect. The 77th squadron was about to be deployed again. This time they were heading to Japan. Sarah should be recovered and ready to return to duty by then. The only problem was the children. James and Sarah had discussed the possibility of being deployed with small children. They didn't like the idea of leaving them behind, but they didn't like the idea of taking them overseas much better. The one good thing was that Japan wasn't quite as bad as most places where they might have been deployed. Japan had a lot of unrest and occasional riots. Even in Japan things weren't going great. Still there was little real violence and the base itself was among the best America had overseas. They did some checking and found that it should be possible for them to take the children with them. They began making plans and once more trusted in the Lord to make it all work according to His greater plan for them. The time to go arrived and after some difficult goodbyes they headed to their new home.

   James was still very troubled about what was going on in America. However, James now believed that would eventually be dealt with by God. James couldn't have explained how or why he had come to believe that, he just had. James was excited about his life again. He might not be able to change the whole world, but he could have a huge effect on the world around him. Ever since that day he had seen Pastor David about things he had been a different man again. James now realized that he too had changed during all of those years away. He had lost his focus and lost the purpose for his life when he had come home to America. While he had been at the Academy, in training, and even deployed he had kept his eyes on the Lord. He hadn't lost his focus or his purpose. He had been faithful and he had trusted in God no matter what had been happening in his life. That trust and faith had sustained him and carried him during some very difficult times. He never forgot that he lived to serve both God and country. That faith was what had made him succeed and had helped get him safely back home.

   Then he and Sarah had been brought back together again. They had begun trying to regain what had been lost to them during all the long months they had been separated. Life had been good again. Their problems had become minor and easily dealt with. They had relaxed and made the most of the chance to just live life to its fullest while they had it. That had been good, but it had also been bad. James had become too involved with his life as a pilot and a husband. He had forgotten what mattered most, he had forgotten God. Oh, he hadn't totally forgotten about God. He and Sarah had attended services regularly. He had read his Bible daily and prayed even more often. That was all good, but it hadn't been enough. James had just about stopped listening for God's answers. Almost as bad, he had forgotten to just talk with God. Prayer was good, but talking had always been how James found out for certain not only what was right, but also what was wrong in his life. He had forgotten to talk with God. Since James wasn't talking anymore he hadn't heard God talking to him very well either. James had been too busy with the world to stay close to God. James had lost sight of God and lost his way, but God hadn't lost James.

   James had stayed very busy since that talk with Pastor David, but he hadn't forgotten to watch and to listen this time. James had seen the changes that had happened and the ones that were still happening back in America. He knew that his nation was heading for trouble far beyond anything that it had now. Even so he also saw that for now, there appeared to be little that he alone could do about that. He had spent every free minute trying to learn about what had happened, what was still happening, and why it was. He had learned that the people of his nation had, for lack of a better term, lost focus. They were much like he had been. They were just too busy living their lives to worry about anything or anyone else. If it didn't directly affect them, then it wasn't worth their time or the trouble it would cause them. Unless and until that was changed, James saw very little that anybody could do to change the path America was on. James wasn't sure who or what was driving the country, but he knew the country was headed for a disaster. Most of the people just weren't watching and they weren't listening to those who were watching. It had been that way for a long time and James was afraid they just didn't understand that sooner or later they would run out of road and go over the edge of the cliff.

   James didn't know what God had in mind, but he knew that God was aware of everything. Sooner or later something would happen, maybe something good, but maybe something bad too. That wouldn't matter as much as what happened afterwards. That was when James knew America would have to make a choice. The same kind of choice that James had made so often, who would they follow? They could turn back to God and let Him correct everything that they had screwed up. Or they could turn away from God and let Him correct the people who had screwed it all up. Either way God would eventually deal with the problems that were building up inside America. James had no doubt of that and he had no fear of it either. James just had faith that as long as a few good people remained... there was still hope for his nation. But right now James was going half way around the world again. If God intended for James to be involved in correcting the problems back home, then it wasn't time yet. James just had to deal with what God put before him today and let God deal with what the future might eventually become.

   He and Sarah were both flying together now. James had done enough with his improvements to the pulse cannons to earn another step up. He had been promoted out of order again and was now a Lt. Colonel. He was also now the squadron commander of the 77th. He wasn't the only one who had been moved up faster than normal. Lt. Colonel Sam Wilson had become Colonel Sam Wilson and been given command of a newly supplied squadron of F/A-48's. That squadron was headed back to the Middle East. Brigadier General Hancock, who was now the commanding officer back at home base, hadn't been thrilled with James being given command of the 77th. He hadn't been willing to object too much since James was the son-in-law of one of the most powerful and well liked Senators in the nation. He had warned James that any show of favoritism towards Sarah would be dealt with severely though. James wasn't worried about that, he was worried about Sarah. She had been more concerned than Hancock about appearances with her flying not only in the same squadron as James, but under his direct command as well.

   James didn't expect a lot of problems with that though. One of the main reasons the 77th was heading to Japan was so that Sarah could assist with negotiations about the air base. Japan needed us there with China looming larger over them every day, but they didn't like us being there. The people who could have remembered the A-bombs being dropped on Japan were long dead, but the memory wasn't dead. The young people didn't want the American military around to remind them of it either. Senator Davis had been spending a lot of time and political capital to make an expansion of the air base happen. James thought that he was the one behind this entire move. Her father apparently thought that Major Sarah Cooper could accomplish what he hadn't been able to. He thought Sarah could get the final expansion approved by the Japanese parliament if anyone could. James figured that Sarah would be hard pressed to get in her required flight time until that expansion was given a go.

   The biggest thing James had to do was fly routine missions over what was currently considered neutral islands between Japan and China. Some islands had Japanese on them, some had Chinese on them, and a few had both. The problem was that while they had no real value, they had become political game pieces. Neither of the nations could legitimately claim them all and yet neither was willing to abandon their interest in all of them.  The people living on those tiny islands were basically poor fishermen who had moved all they had to the tiny islands in an effort to just survive. They could raise small gardens and catch fish. Sometimes they could even catch enough to sell for a tiny profit, but mostly they just wanted to live and be left alone. They cared nothing for politics or territory. However, China and Japan both routinely had Navy ships patrolling among those islands. James would be there to discourage both from doing something that might make matters far worse for everyone involved.

   James and Sarah had made arrangements for the kids to stay on the farm with his folks until they could get a place suitable for them to all live in. Then her folks would bring the kids over to them. James was already missing the kids and he knew it would be worse for Sarah, but sacrifices had to be made. James doubted that the kids were going to miss dad and mom much anyway. Not when they had Granny and Grandpa available around the clock, to say nothing of a farm full of animals and adventures. Still he would be glad when they found a suitable place to live. That wasn't the only reason why they had left the kids behind though. They had wanted time to locate someone to watch the kids when they were both on duty. James had no intention of juggling schedules to make sure he or Sarah could be available to watch the kids. He had to find someone he could trust with the most precious thing he had in his life.