Going, Going, Gone...

"He put your feet on a wonderful road that took you straight to a good place to live." Psalm 107:7

 

I DO live in a good place. It is still filled with boxes - but it is a good place. Once I settle in, it will be a great place. In the meantime - I can still say it is a very good place, because all my dirty clothes have been washed (already) and are set to put back in my suitcase for my departure THIS Sunday (August 29)for Russia.

 

Sunday morning we shared a last meal and a lot of tears with the families. The Chaplain delivered a message of commitment to Christ and His hope for their lives. He then offered a time for the families to share their experiences of the weekend. In the room were probably some of the toughest, most courageous men in the military standing up sharing their, "feelings." Now you don't see THAT everyday.

 

One by one, the Marines stood and expressed how much having time with their families meant to them; how a good dose of laughter had been a great medicine! There must have been beach sand blowing through the vents because eyes were watering all around.

 

Last night, I was sharing with my son a time when someone in the group thanked the soldiers. Universally across the room came the response, "MARINES." He didn't understand the difference and neither did I (until it happened in San Diego). He said "isn't a soldier a soldier?" The best analogy I could come up with was if a Navy Seal (their elite special operations fighting branch) had been called a "sailor."

 

There is a difference, and those in the battlefield know. Words and labels get watered down and loose their true identity the more they are used and mis-used. I typically refer to myself as a "Believer." The term "Christian" has developed a stigma here in the Bible Belt. I want people to make certain defining associations when they label me. God forbid anyone confuse me with a "clown."

 

"Any mission assigned will be accomplished in a superior manner no matter what the obstacles."

 

This is a vow every Marine makes when he commits to serve our nation and fight for freedom. I wish the "Believers" followed and executed the same seriousness of oath taking when they make a commitment to follow Christ. Of course the invitation songs, long out of "fashion" and seldom sung in the "contemporary" services held some of those truths. "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back." Most have forgotten the "mission" everyone has been assigned: "GO, and make disciples." 

 

I am going, and going, and going. You might think it is foolish or unwise or worse. I may not be a Marine, a Navy Seal, or an Army Ranger, but I AM in an elite Special Operations Command Unit! I am not trying to take a hill in Afghanistan or Iraq, I am trying to save the WORLD! For the God I served so loved the world, that He sent His only Son...

 

Dramatic, you had better believe it! It IS worth fighting for, it is what I live for, and it IS worth dying for - as every soldier and Marine knows there IS a greater cause than themselves. Working together WE can defeat the already defeated enemy, we CAN take back territory (hearts and souls) our Sovereign King purchased.

 

I can't send out an Uncle Sam pointing his menacing finger saying, "We want You." I can't send a patriotic photo using the Marine slogan, "We're looking for a few good men." What I can send from my traveling typewriter is the reminder you voluntarily committed your life to serve the King when you accepted His gift of salvation.

 

Boot camp is over. The war in the heavenlies is raging. I'm returning to fight behind enemy lines. Are you going to have my "back?"

 

Under the wire - taking territory!