A Good Soldier Loves

By Donna McCrary –

A good soldier has endured the training, gained vast knowledge and skills for combat on the battlefield. At a moment’s notice he is called on to strike down the enemy with deadly force. A good soldier knows, understands, and respects the power he has been given. He does not use his power and knowledge to harm but to protect. A good soldier must always be true to the objective of his mission. Anytime a soldier becomes prideful, deceitful or corrupt he will destroy the very lives he is charged to protect. A good soldier learns that the greatest knowledge and skill he has to guide him is love. If a good soldier chooses love he will always accomplish his mission.

Timothy’s church in Ephesus was a church full of good soldiers who endured, labored, tested, and tolerated many issues in their time. In the end their works proved their hate of evil things. In other words, they were known as soldiers who engaged the enemy on the battlefield and fought for truth at all cost (Revelation 2:2-3).

The soldiers at Ephesus were hardcore in their beliefs; however, as they endured they forgot the main purpose of their mission. They lost sight of the ultimate goal – to love (Revelation 2:4-5).

As we learn to be always faithful we must never forget the responsibility of a good soldier. Even though we possess vast knowledge and skills, we must always remember that Jesus’ love conquers. So as we enter into the battle, we must first chose love.

AUTHOR QUOTE: “It is a sad to realize that Christians today are known more for what they are against than what they stand for.”

“If I speak the language of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing and if I donated all my goods to feed the poor and if I give my body to be burned but do not have love I gain nothing. Love is patient love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful is not conceited does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth; bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things; Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8 HCSB).

The Preacher Who Put the Arson in Parson

By Connie Cavanaugh –

When my new husband took his first pastorate in a northern village, he thought he’d ignite some spiritual fire in the community. He went way beyond that.

The church’s parsonage perched atop a hill overlooking a lake. Gerry kept the lawns trimmed but the rocky slope below our bay window was impossible to mow. The grass and weeds were an unsightly tangled mess that marred the beauty of our lake view so I suggested that Gerry find a way to clean it up.

He watched our neighbor burn off his tall grass early in spring before the snow melted under the fence that encircled his property. Quick to recognize a good idea, Gerry planned to copy him. But it wasn’t until several weeks later, after a hot, dry spring that Gerry finally had a chance to tend to my nagging. He decided to surprise me for my birthday.

Off to work I went on the thirty-first of May, the day before my birthday, oblivious to what lay ahead. In the late afternoon, I returned to a vacant house filled with unsettling clues. A trail of sooty water marred the white linoleum between the front door and kitchen sink. A melted, misshapen plastic blob near the door, on closer inspection, turned out to be the charred remains of my garbage can liner – a wedding gift from a dear friend. A blackened soggy pile of rags beside the sink was all that remained of my colorful handmade heirloom throw rug from Auntie Ada. I was alarmed and upset.

I headed back outside where I spied a garden hose snaking over the lip of the hill toward the lake. I ran to the crest of the hill. Blackness! All the way to the lake, to the edges of our property and dangerously beyond, the ground was still smoldering.

Halfway down the hill, slumped atop a boulder holding a dribbling hose was what appeared to be a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins.

“Caawww-neee,” Gerry hallooed, giving a feeble wave. “I can’t leave my post. Come down.” I minced my way over the scorched earth, tottering on three-inch heels. My bedraggled spouse’s smoke-reddened eyes darted in all directions. He kept whirling around, shooting pitiful spurts at puffs of smoke. There were so many burn holes in the hoses a well-aimed spit would have had more volume.

The harrowing tale unfolded. Midmorning he had decided to clean up that unsightly grass as my birthday surprise. Just like our neighbor, he had matches and a cold drink. (The missing factor was the snowpack around the perimeter!) Always in a hurry, Gerry thought he’d speed things along. He fetched the can of gasoline. After pouring a line of gas along the top of the hill, he tossed a match. Kaboom!

He managed to save our house before he ran for help.

Five elderly women—the only people he found at home—and he waged a furious battle to subdue the runaway inferno that threatened to consume our village. The not-so-volunteer ladies’ brigade plunked Gerry on that rock with strict instructions to “Stay there, young man, and keep a sharp eye. Or else!”

“I’m starving,” Gerry lamented.

I headed uphill to fetch a sandwich and found my neighbor Florence on my verandah. Her hair was still wet from the shower and she had a glass of whisky, straight up, in one hand.

“What is it with you Baptist preachers and fire?” she asked, waving her empty hand. “The last guy did the same dang thing!”

Clothed

By Cheri Cowell –

My mother is a terrific seamstress and made most of my clothes as I was growing up. What she didn’t make, we received as hand-me-downs from my cousins. I learned early that the clothes I wore made a statement about me, and that it also had an influence on my attitude. If I dressed sloppy, my attitude was sloppy, and if I was proud of what I was wearing I carried myself with pride. I also learned to prepare what I was going to wear the next day on the night before. This way I could make sure my clothes were ready and appropriate for the event. I still do this even today.

Jesus told a parable about clothing yourself properly and having a right attitude. He has something to say to all of us about choosing our “clothes.”

It was customary in Jesus’ day to receive two invitations to a wedding. The first invitation informed guests that the feast was being planned–a sort of “save the date” notice. The second invitation was an announcement telling everyone it was time to come. Along with the second invitation, wedding clothes were also sent for the guest to wear to the banquet. It was considered an insult to the host not to wear the garments given.

In the Parable of the Wedding Banguet, not only did those first invited refuse to come, but one of the men who came with the second invitation refused to put on the royal robe. As gentiles, you and I are receiving the second invitation. However, simply accepting the invitation is not enough; we must be appropriately dressed in robes of righteousness. These clothes have been provided for us. Have you put on the robe?

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for Your invitation. I recognize he filthy rags I still cling to and ask You to help me to finally take them off. Clothe me in Your garments which are clean, pure, and holy.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12 NIV. See verses 1-14 for the full parable).

The Tell

By Carol Barnier –

Sometimes you see something about an individual and it just speaks volumes to you about this person. For example, there’s this guy with devil’s horns imbedded under the skin of his skull. Now looks can be incredibly deceiving. I know that. But my first instinct when I see this guy is to think he probably doesn’t do scrapbooking. Or sell Amway. Or vote Republican.

Or Democrat.

Or any of the first ten possible party affiliations on any standard college political science list.

Maybe after Republican and Democrat and Independent and Green and Socialist and Communist. . .way down there, there’s this Beelzebub Wannabe Caucus that he’s shooting for. I don’t know. But ya gotta be careful. You can be really wrong about assumptions. He could run a preschool daycare program for indigent immigrants for all we know.

However, sometimes you just know you’re spot on.

There was this woman at my church. She was really new and had already volunteered to help us with VBS. I didn’t know her at all but she and I were asked to move some boxes from the furnace room in the basement up to the classrooms. So off we go. In she trots to this little furnace room, squats down to pick up a couple of the boxes, and when she does her jeans drop down a bit in the back. Now these were not those low rise puppies that descend so frighteningly that you’re suddenly reminded Crack kills. No. These were perfectly respectable jeans. Godly jeans. Jeans I might even wear. But out the back, like a kite set free to the wind, was a big old tag. To me it indicated two things.

1.) She wore granny panties that went all the way up to the top of her jeans and clearly covered every square inch of her behind and then some. No hip hugger, bikini cut, or heaven-forbid dental floss look to these puppies. These undergarments were THERE. . .and they were standing their ground.

2.) But the second thing it indicated, given tag’s current position, was that this woman’s underwear was inside out. Perhaps she’d dressed that morning in the dark, unaware of the current orientation of her undergarments. Perhaps she was fully aware of their reversed status but needed to get out the door to a waiting van full of her loving family. Or perhaps she saw that the underwear was inside out and she simply didn’t care. She couldn’t be bothered using her remaining brain cells and limited time on such fripperies as correctly oriented underwear.

And what could I determine from this littlest snippet of information about this woman?

I liked her.

Probably a lot.

We might even be soul mates.

I’m pretty sure there’s a chapter in the Bible on women like us—women who put no stock in outer appearance or apparel, women who look to serve, even in the dusty dungeons of the church furnace rooms. I know it’s not Proverbs 31 because there you’ll find quite a bit of pressure to have beautifully dressed family members wearing lots of scarlet and purple. There’s much weaving and storing up for the winter. Maybe the scripture I’m seeking has more to do with the verse I have painted on my laundry room wall. While other women might approach their laundry, look upon those many piles of soiled and dirty clothes with great pain and resignation, I just glance up at my verse, and find peace, inspiration and grace every time.
What’s it say?

“They were naked, and they were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:25)

Seize Your Day

By Peter Lundell –

I paid close attention at my daughter’s promotion from middle school to high school. The student speeches were good, and I was struck by these thirteen-year-olds talking about how “time flies.” Oncey they’re adults, they’ll find out how fast it can truly go.

I reminded myself of the commitment I made almost ten years earlier: When my kid’s name gets called to receive her high school diploma, I will NOT sit here and wonder where all the time went.

If time flies, each of us is a pilot. We choose how it flies. Whether we actively decide what we do with it, or passively let things take their course, we determine how time flies—or doesn’t.

But let’s get real, time doesn’t fly at all. Every minute, hour, and year is a set length (even leap year). The “flying” part is entirely our perception. Ask someone in a penitentiary or someone with a terminal illness if time flies. We all have time when it drags, even if temporarily.

So what should we do with these conclusions? The same thing writers have said for centuries: carpe diem—”seize the day.” But in a way that is more life enriching rather than just living for the moment.

Seizing the day is something we consciously decide every day—otherwise the day’s potentials vanish like mist. We make choices deliberately, and fully engage in what we do, rather than drift through life letting things happen to us. We engage meaningfully with people and events around us, and we nourish a caring heart toward them. We live for each moment rather than wallow in the past or pine for the future. We refuse to live in perpetual busyness, and as in the Luke 10:38–42 story of Martha and Mary, we focus on what is most important.

How will you seize your day?

PRAYER: “Lord and Master of my life, each day I live is a gift from You. Lead me to seize it as a zealous steward of time and experience. Open my eyes to see Your hand in all of it. . . .”

“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14 NIV).

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