COURAGEOUS! A couple days after Veterans Day, I'm still thinking about courage. I'm remembering my job at Siemens, handling the Government accounts. I spent a lot of time in VA hospitals and Military medical centers like Bethesda and Walter Reed. Invariably I'd be waiting to meet with the clinicians, passing the time talking with the vets. I heard stories of the Battle of the Bulge, of Heartbreak Ridge and of Saigon - stories even of Lebanon and Kuwait. Generations of the courageous baring old wounds and revealing dark nightmares to a suit - there for the sole purpose of demonstrating hearing aids! Talk about feeling inadequate and humbled! These men and women had the courage, not only to endure tremendous hardship in war but to continue to endure tremendous hardship in peace. They lived through moments of incredible uncertainty, only to be thrust back into life in the "real" world, where we certainly know what's around the next corner. At least we think we know! Paul writes to the people of Thessalonica in similar words Jesus used when He talked about our expectations. "Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." This uncertainty friends is the source of courage. Who would be courageous if they knew the day and the time of the Lord's coming? Either we would be consumed with doing good deeds to ensure our salvation or we would fall into a resigned depression thinking it all hopeless. It's like the scenes in the movie Groundhog Day, when the main character knows he cannot die, so he take tremendous risks that lack courage. Whether we speak of the courage of those in battle or the courage of those at peace the source is the same. It is a selflessness, a light of hope that no matter what happens - life is not lived for the self, but for others. Putting on the "breastplate of faith and love" and the helmet of "hope and salvation", the truly courageous willing step into the fray to lay down their life for another. It's never been clearer than the courageous work of Jesus on His cross. It's never been truly possible until He did it first. Now as He readies us with faith, we must choose courage - the willingness to live and to die Christ Jesus!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Be strong and...
COURAGEOUS! A couple days after Veterans Day, I'm still thinking about courage. I'm remembering my job at Siemens, handling the Government accounts. I spent a lot of time in VA hospitals and Military medical centers like Bethesda and Walter Reed. Invariably I'd be waiting to meet with the clinicians, passing the time talking with the vets. I heard stories of the Battle of the Bulge, of Heartbreak Ridge and of Saigon - stories even of Lebanon and Kuwait. Generations of the courageous baring old wounds and revealing dark nightmares to a suit - there for the sole purpose of demonstrating hearing aids! Talk about feeling inadequate and humbled! These men and women had the courage, not only to endure tremendous hardship in war but to continue to endure tremendous hardship in peace. They lived through moments of incredible uncertainty, only to be thrust back into life in the "real" world, where we certainly know what's around the next corner. At least we think we know! Paul writes to the people of Thessalonica in similar words Jesus used when He talked about our expectations. "Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." This uncertainty friends is the source of courage. Who would be courageous if they knew the day and the time of the Lord's coming? Either we would be consumed with doing good deeds to ensure our salvation or we would fall into a resigned depression thinking it all hopeless. It's like the scenes in the movie Groundhog Day, when the main character knows he cannot die, so he take tremendous risks that lack courage. Whether we speak of the courage of those in battle or the courage of those at peace the source is the same. It is a selflessness, a light of hope that no matter what happens - life is not lived for the self, but for others. Putting on the "breastplate of faith and love" and the helmet of "hope and salvation", the truly courageous willing step into the fray to lay down their life for another. It's never been clearer than the courageous work of Jesus on His cross. It's never been truly possible until He did it first. Now as He readies us with faith, we must choose courage - the willingness to live and to die Christ Jesus!
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1 comment:
Jesus showed Thomas his scars. It seems that our scars are indeed useful.
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