Dale Maharidge grew up knowing that his father's rage and violent outbursts stemmed from his experience as a Marine fighting in World War II, but the former Sgt Steve Maharidge never spoke to his son about what troubled him.
The only clue was a photograph he always kept nearby - a young Sgt Maharidge with another US Marine. (The picture above) Dale remember's hearing his father say, "...They blame me; they said I killed him, but I didn't. It wasn't my fault."
When his father died in 2000, Dale Maharidge set out to discover the identity of the man in the picture - and the dark secrets the photograph held.
Over the next 12 years, Maharidge tracked down 29 survivors of Love Company who fought with his father in the Pacific. Half a century after World War II, many of the men, now in their 70s and 80s, spoke out for the first time.
Dale came to understand that what these men didn't talk about, was affecting them in ways that very few people could begin to understand. Many of the men that he spoke with still had a past that was haunting them in incredible ways.
Even when Christians don't experience something as traumatic as war, their pasts often loom in their minds and cloud their judgment about Who God is, and who THEY are in God's eyes.
If you've ever experienced that in your spiritual journey, you are not alone! I've talked to so many people over the years that have looked back at a "less-than-perfect" past, and wondered how they could ever be capable of such things, and how they could ever be forgiven.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
Lord, help me to distrust any feeling that minimizes your grace and forgiveness in my mind. Amen.
Have a great day and God bless!
Pastor Mike / The Open Word
