While our nation celebrates its Independence, I couldn’t help but write to you. You see, this time of year always brings tears to my eyes as I think of the men and women who have given everything so that we can sit under the summer sky and watch the fireworks,worship as we choose, live in peace with our families. They have sacrificed themselves so that we can Live Free.

A chaplain at a military hospital recently told me about the wounded warriors he sees. Many have burns over 60 percent of their body. Some have been blinded by explosives, or lost their arms and legs. Others have even had part of their face blown away. These brave men and women will live the rest of their lives in pain — all so that we might continue to celebrate the freedom we hold so dear.

For many of us in America, the war on terror can seem so far away. We barely even hear about it on the news anymore. For our nation’s warriors, the fighting on the front lines is still raging.

This war is different from the others that we’ve fought. The enemy is less clear, and the endpoint lingers on the ever-distant horizon. The casualties are different, too. In other wars, wounded soldiers would usually suffer just one injury. That was bad enough. But today, the soldiers who arrive in our veteran’s hospitals have suffered multiple injuries — polytraumatic injuries.

Too many of these men and women are left without their sight; others are unable to even hold a book.

At perhaps no other point, will these wounded warriors need the comfort and peace from the scriptures more than they do now. This is the time they long to cling to the Word of God, to seek understanding in its verses. Yet, in a cruel irony, because of blindness or because they literally cannot hold a Bible, they can’t even turn to the Psalms and pray,

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
(Psalm 23:4, NKJV)

Soldiers are lying in hospital beds all over this country because they have sacrificed themselves for us.

After receiving Audio Bibles to distribute to the injured soldiers in his care, a chaplain from Walter Reed Army Medical Center wrote to thank the partners like you who make this ministry possible.

“As chaplains who serve a special group of Americans, it’s our privilege to pass on your act of kindness to our Wounded Warriors and their families. I cannot adequately express how grateful our troops are as they undergo such difficult times in their lives. It has a positive impact and accelerates their healing, knowing someone cares. We see tragedy every day, but there are blessings in such caring generosity and compassionate acts of service. I pray that you will remember the soldiers' appreciation of your service that went 'above and beyond' the call of duty and will not be soon forgotten. You exemplify the best that America has to offer. God bless you."

We just celebrated our nation’s independence, and many of us all around America joined friends and family for a cookout, watching children laugh as the sparklers twirled in the night and fireworks lit up the sky. But too many of the men and women who fight to keep this celebration going year after year spent our Independence Day broken and hurting in a hospital bed. Please don't let their sacrifice be forgotten.