Samuel Joiner
For those of you who do not know Samuel Joiner, he is a friend of my family and is also serving in Iraq. These pictures are from Dec. 7 after a roadside bomb exploded, sending shrapnel into his feet, legs, and hip. He had to be airlifted to the nearest military hospital from my understanding, and is on the mend. He was able to call his family the same day to let them know he was okay. God has certainly been gracious to him, it looks like he will be able to get back up to full strength in a couple of weeks. They did surgery and were able to remove most of the shrapnel, but had to leave some in his hip, telling him it would eventually work itself out.
Samuel said he counted at least 20 wounds in his legs, but is ready to get back with his men and get back to work on his mission. Mrs. Joiner said that Samuel told medical staff, "give me a Motrin and send me back." This is definitely the Samuel that I have always known, he's hard-core all the way.
I am so thankful that he is okay. His dad emailed these pictures, and I thought I would share them to remind everyone to be praying for the men serving over in Iraq. This could have been much, much worse, but God saw to it to keep him from any permanent harm.
I know there are a lot of families out there that are missing their loved ones over the holidays. Let's be mindful of them and pray that they may return home safely if it is the Lord's will.
Knoxville's paper, The News-Sentinel, did an article on Samuel and his family. Here is the address if you want to check it out, it is really good: www.knoxnews.comFrom a journalistic perspective, I'm thinking, "are there photographers over there just waiting to take pictures of these guys as they are shot down?" These pictures are pretty amazing.