{"id":1462,"date":"2011-01-07T22:35:32","date_gmt":"2011-01-08T05:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1462"},"modified":"2011-01-07T22:35:32","modified_gmt":"2011-01-08T05:35:32","slug":"a-fallen-american-hero-laid-to-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1462","title":{"rendered":"A Fallen American Hero Laid to Rest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>On a beautiful winter’s day — with crystal clear blue skies and a cool breeze –a New Mexico native and American hero was laid to rest on Friday afternoon in Belen, New Mexico.\u00a0 United States Marine Sgt. Garrett A. “Bear”\u00a0Misener, who served his country honorably, was killed in action in Afghanistan on December 26, 2010, just a few weeks from finishing his sixth combat deployment.<\/p>\n

The only son of Gary\u00a0Misener, who serves\u00a0as my (yes, he\u00a0technically belongs to the church, but on this day, I claim him as mine)\u00a0Music Pastor at Bethel Baptist Church in Alamogordo, NM, Garrett was buried next\u00a0to his favorite uncle — Gary’s brother, Randy —\u00a0who himself served honorably as\u00a0a\u00a0New Mexico State Police Officer.<\/p>\n

Garrett’s life and service was honored by the\u00a0estimated 200 in attendance at the graveside service.\u00a0 Family and friends,\u00a0active-duty military personnel, veterans’ groups (Patriot Riders, American Legion, and VFW), government officials (including\u00a0a personal representative\u00a0of U.S. Senator Tom Udall), and Baptist pastors and ministers came from far and wide to pay their respects to the Misener family.<\/p>\n

Both Garrett’s dad, Gary, and his granddad, Milford, have served New Mexico Baptist churches for decades.\u00a0 There were no fewer than 20 Baptist pastors and ministers who came to honor not only Garrett’s service to his country, but to honor the Misener family’s service to the Lord.<\/p>\n

The impact that the Miseners have had on New Mexico and beyond cannot be overestimated.\u00a0 Garrett, who did not follow his father or grandfather into full-time Christian ministry, nevertheless ministered to countless people throughout his all-too-short time on this earth.<\/p>\n

Whether\u00a0stateside or deployed overseas\u00a0in Iraq (five times) or Afghanistan (his final assignment), Garrett was a minster of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 From leading small-group Bible studies with his men to giving away a new leather-bound Bible to an Iraqi, Garrett found a way to share the love of Christ wherever he went.<\/p>\n

In some ways, Garrett’s Kingdom impact will have an even further reach than his dad or granddad.\u00a0 By planting the seeds of the Gospel in faraway lands like Iraq and Afghanistan, Garrett was fulfilling the mission that God had given to him — the same mission that Jesus has given to all of His\u00a0followers — to GO and make disciples, even if that meant being sent by the U.S.\u00a0Government to what must have seemed like the ends of the earth.<\/p>\n

On the night of December 26, 2010, Garrett’s missions came to an end.\u00a0 The mission that the United States Marine Corps had given him in Afghanistan came to a heroic, although tragic end.\u00a0\u00a0On\u00a0Friday,\u00a0January 7, 2011,\u00a0Sgt. Garrett Misener’s body was laid to rest at Terrace Grove Cemetery in\u00a0Belen, NM<\/a>, with\u00a0the full\u00a0military honors and respect that he earned through his service to our country in time of war:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“On behalf of the President of the United States, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one\u2019s service to Country and Corps.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0On that night, almost two weeks ago, the mission that God had given to Garrett came to an end.\u00a0 We will never know this side of heaven the reason for the timing and circumstances of Garrett’s home going.\u00a0 But, we can know that Garrett is now at rest, in the arms of His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this:\u00a0 Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.\u00a0 Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow them!”<\/span>(Revelation 14:13)<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With bagpipes\u00a0playing “Amazing Grace,” family and friends spontaneously began singing the words to that great hymn of the faith.\u00a0 I can think of no better send off for a son, grandson, brother, friend, patriot, hero, Marine, and minister.\u00a0 “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”<\/em><\/span>\u00a0 Well done, indeed!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a beautiful winter’s day — with crystal clear blue skies and a cool breeze –a New Mexico native and American hero was laid to rest on Friday afternoon in Belen, New Mexico.\u00a0 United States Marine Sgt. Garrett A. “Bear”\u00a0Misener, who served his country honorably, was killed in action in Afghanistan on December 26, 2010,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22,35],"tags":[67,135,139,191,241,378,3382,427,486,527,634,659,712,824,3392,1027,1035],"class_list":["post-1462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freedoms","category-government","category-religion","tag-afghanistan","tag-belen","tag-bethel-baptist-church-alamogordo","tag-burial","tag-combat","tag-fbc-belen","tag-freedoms","tag-garrett-misener","tag-heroes","tag-iraq","tag-marines","tag-military-service","tag-new-mexico","tag-randy-misener","tag-religion","tag-veterans","tag-war"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-nA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}