Copyright 2001 & 2022
I posted this video in 2001 but accidently left it private for 20 years. I gave a Sunday Service on a scout trip to Shiloh battlefield about one of my religious journeys and showed this video (stop before swearing). I noticed the video was private and made it public. Here's the message notes for the sermon I wrote. I am an engineer not a pastor, so don't expect the message to be awesome.
As a combat veteran, when they spoke of going to Shiloh, the last place I wanted to visit was a battlefield. However, I could tell that it meant a lot to the adults planning the trip. As we were packing up to leave the house, it was a struggle. For you this is a visit with history. For me this is a return to Hell.
As I prayed about what to share, I decided I would share this struggle from my own personal devotion.
Read 1 Chronicles 22:7 - 10
When I became a Christian in the early 90’s I read through bible
I focused on Military verses as a young officer
What does this mean? God asked David to fight these wars, why was he punishing him?
My journey to find the meaning of this passage is painful, but I would like to share it with you. I had a tough flight test job. It was dangerous, with test crew often lost
Vacation to relax. Go to NYC. See the shows.
In an instant I saw 2,763 die. 25,000 injured
Comparison. Shiloh 3,500 dead, 16,500 injured over two days
As I was caught in the dust cloud of the collapse, I remember seeing a picture of a child about your age. From a desk of their mom or dad and wondering if I now was looking at an orphan This was what I thought would be the worst time of my life, but little did I know this was the first day of what would become about about a year in various combat zones around the world A few years later on valentines day, I told Kristen I was selected to be an aircraft commander and fly combat missions in Iraq. I was leaving for training in two weeks and then flying out on her birthday in May. When I flew the rotater into Iraq, the guy that sat next to me died in a mortar attack the next day. That was my welcome to Iraq.
I then worked about three months straight from 6pm to 6am, planning and flying combat missions. Here are some samples of my days.
Walking the mile to work over 135 degree tarmac one day one of my squadron mates was waving for me. I couldn’t hear the shell warning siren over the F-16’s taxing. I saw him hit the deck and did too.
Some days my sleep was interrupted by incoming mortar fire, with one time gravel spraying against my tent woke me up.
As one of the officers, I would often draw funerary detail. As they wheeled the coffins into or out of the aircraft, I would wonder did they have a wife? Kids? Have their parents been notified yet?
Day after day was all the same, except on Sunday, I would go to chapel before reporting for duty. It would be a respite from the Hell outside the chapel tent. Worshiping God. We are fortunate to have a couple philosophers in our unit. One of them asked during scouting Sunday why I was smiling. I told him that it is because I can leave my worries outside. He told me you leave it hung up on a tree and then pick it back up when you leave and some of them have blown away. It reminded me of that chapel tent in Iraq where the love of Christ brings joy to my heart.
Even after experiencing combat, I still did not understand 1 Cor. Several years later I was reading the last Harry Potter novel and God used this following passage to make the lightbulb go off.
Extract from passage:
Snape raised his eyebrows and his tone was sardonic as he asked, “Are you intending to let him kill you?” “Certainly not. You must kill me.” There was a long silence, broken only by an odd clicking noise. Fawkes the phoenix was gnawing a bit of cuttlebone. “Would you like me to do it now?” asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. “Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?” “Oh, not quite yet,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “I daresay the moment will present itself in due course. Given what has happened tonight,” he indicated his withered hand, “we can be sure that it will happen within a year.” “If you don’t mind dying,” said Snape roughly, “why not let Draco do it?” “That boy’s soul is not yet so damaged,” said Dumbledore. “I would not have it ripped apart on my account.” “And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?”
And at last, I knew the truth of David in 1 Chr 22…. A wave of pain, sadness and great loss crashed over me. God. God. What about my soul? I asked.
In war a piece of our soul is lost on the battlefield and it can never be replaced in this life. That is why David could not build the temple. But David’s hope was that in the next life God restores our soul. We know that in Christ our body and soul will rise again perfected.
Let us Pray. God we pray for those some 3000 that died on these fields as their life blood flowed out. Also we pray for those 100,000 who spilled that life blood and left a piece of their soul on this battlefield. AmenSeveral years later I was reading the last Harry Potter novel and God used this following passage to make the lightbulb go off.
Can you recount any other times that you were given divine revelations while consuming popular media?
God uses everything around us to speak to us and it is our job to listen for his voice and suggestions
My faith has delivered me and kept me safe because through Christ I can share the blessings of a good life with my neighbors and our children.Lmao this is absolutely a Felix bit. We're witnessing BMF rebirth right here
It does sound like a bit right? But all of that text is taken verbatim from the real Kevin Westley's video description. What does that mean?
accidently left it private for 20 years
Could you have switched it to public instead of re-uploading it four days ago?
Iraq war veteran
Sir i am gravely sorry to inform you of this new development, but sir...
You are a war criminal.
Its not too late, go to church and ask god to forgive you, enjoy your wealth in retirement, spend time with your kids, watch your Fox news and your HBO, but please dont come back here.
I was unfortunate enough to be actually there and see it firsthand. I experienced 9 - 11 in a very personal and real way seeing 3,000 people die firsthand in front of me.
How do you feel about your son-in-law's support for communism? I'm presuming that's how he would know about this site.
I know that he voted for senator Bernie Sanders but I like him anyway
I do not think he is a communist because I would already know about that.
I noticed in your video that there is a cut at 1:39, then you spin around a couple times before spotting the plane in the sky with the viewfinder. Is that because you happened to turn your camera back on when you heard the plane approaching?
I do not remember maybe
It all happened much faster than we thought it would.
Thanks for sharing this. I think a lot of us younger generations fail to consider just how terrifying that must have been for people on the ground. Do you remember what was going through your head at all? Were you worried there could be more planes and/or bombs on the way? Did you fear it was the start of an invasion?
I remember watching these events unfold at school and it looked like just another action movie to my TV-obsessed mind. I came home and my parents were crying and I couldn't understand why. From my young perspective, that was just what the news was - people dying. Sure, it was really sad, but what made this time different? By the next day, however, and for what seemed like every day after that, it was all anyone could talk about.
Anyway, just thought I'd share what it was like from a millennial's perspective. 9/11 would have this massive impact on our lives, but a lot of us were too young to comprehend what it meant or why it happened. It's interesting to hear from folks like you who lived through it.
I also have a youtube video channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6t31R4tI10
I hope this video can be healing and lead us all to God.Thanks for sharing, Kevin, and welcome to hexbear! :hexbear-chapochat:
Have any journalists contacted you about your footage yet?
Thank you some journalists have left me messages two of them worked for companies I do not like
I am planning to talk with my wife about their offers tomorrow I will be praying tonight and listening for what the Holy Spirit will tell me
I am not interested in making any money from that video.I am not interested in making any money from that video.
Eh. If you can, get that bag, mate. The news corpo ghouls wouldn't think twice about selling your life if it made them money.
I have a generous pension and career so I thankfully do not need to worry about money
Read James 5:1 - 6
Greed and wealth will only bring judgement.Agreed, Mark 10:25 says “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God”
What if you were to give the money to a 9/11-related charity or something like that?
Thank you for sharing this here personally Kevin, really nice of you. I’m sure it was awful being there but this is a little bit of history on film you have here.
Holy shit man this video is nuts. Thanks for posting.
9/11 always blows my mind, maybe because it's the most obvious and visceral form of blowback the US has experienced especially in the 21st century. I do feel for the people and families who lost loved ones in this disaster. It's not their fault. And of course the people responsible never really did any introspection about why this happened in the first place. Never waste a good crisis of course.
I wonder what the US would be like today without 9/11. Idk. Thanks for posting
