John Sheridan served nine years in the US Army, in a family that goes back generations of soldiers — and for him, the color green always meant the uniform, conflict, and war. Then he learned that Akiane Kramarik painted green to mean peace, and standing before Prince of Peace, he felt Jesus’ eyes meet his like “two beams of green light.” In our #iam_beloved story of faith, John shares how that encounter rewrote what peace means for a veteran carrying PTSD and a lifetime of military funerals. Watch his story below, then read it in his own words.
“I don’t have to wait until they’re putting me six feet in the ground to know peace. I know peace because He’s a part of my life.”
— John Sheridan
John Sheridan comes from a long line of military service — a father who helped start the Navy SEAL program, a grandfather who drove General Patton across Europe and helped liberate Nazi camps, uncles who fought in Vietnam. Nine years in the Army of his own, along with PTSD, long-suffering, and too many military funerals, taught him that green was the color of the uniform: conflict, battle, war. So when he learned that Akiane Kramarik painted green to represent peace, his jaw dropped. Standing before Prince of Peace, he felt Jesus’ eyes meet his like beams of green light, and peace wrapped around him like the arms of God. His #iam_beloved story is a word of hope for every veteran still waiting to know peace.
I joined the US Army back in 1989, and after basic training got sent to Panama, in a unit that was called to action when Manuel Noriega declared war on the United States of America. I spent a total of nine years in the US Army.
My father was on an underwater demolition team stationed aboard an aircraft carrier; he also became part of SEAL Teams One and Two, so he was at the start of the US Navy SEAL Team program. My grandfather on my mom’s side, PFC Norman Oaks, served in World War II as a US Army liaison driver — he greeted and picked up General Patton and drove him across Europe to his first duty station, and he was part of the Allied forces’ liberation teams that freed Nazi death camps in Germany. My other grandfather fought in the field artillery against the Nazis. I have several uncles, four of whom fought in the Vietnam War; my Uncle Ray Oaks came back having been awarded two Purple Hearts. So I came from a whole family of military veterans.
Green was the color of the uniform we were ordered to wear, and so green, to us as a family and to me, represented conflict among nations — war, battle. Akiane said green represented peace. My jaw dropped. I thought, where did she get that notion? When they ushered me into that room, it was mesmerizing, because immediately His eyes were like two beams of green light that caught mine. It was like two crystals going right through to my soul, and I was frozen. The presence of God just filled my whole being. I felt peace wrapping around me, as if the Lord were wrapping me in His arms. It was the greatest sense I had ever had in my life. I knew peace in that moment.
I’ve seen many of my family members, veterans, buried. Every time I went to a military funeral, of course they have the 21-gun salute, they do the eulogy — and, like my Uncle Ray, being Marine Recon, he didn’t know peace in life. So at the end of every military funeral they would say, “Now he knows peace.” What that does to you mentally is it makes you think: well, I have to die to have peace — there’s no hope for me, I have to die first. Now the impact is, I don’t have to wait until they’re putting me six feet in the ground to know peace. I know peace in here. That real encounter with the Lord — that’s what I encountered. I know peace because He’s a part of my life.
I recommend everybody come. My hope and prayer is that any veterans who maybe are suffering with PTSD will experience the same thing I did. It’s changed my life forever.
