A Stitch for Time

            Horace Porter, served as General Grant’s secretary during the Civil War. Before the epic Battle of Cold Harbor, he noticed an interesting occurrence: many of the northern troops were sewing their clothes before battle. That seemed strange, so he decided to investigate.

            What he discovered was this, "... upon closer examination it was found that the men were calmly writing their names and home addresses on slips of paper, and pinning them on the backs of their coats, so that their dead bodies might be recognized upon the field, and their fate made known to their families at home."

         Some later read Porter's report and interpreted it as a sign of bad morale. Porter disagreed, "They were veterans who knew well from terrible experience the danger which awaited them…. Their minds were occupied not with thoughts of shirking their duty, but with preparation for the desperate work of the coming morning. Such courage is more than heroic – it is sublime."

            I think disciples of the Lord Jesus should maintain a similar attitude. Jesus, in Luke 9:23, tells us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

            Crosses are for killing. We should all be prepared to die in the service of the King. Even if we do not die physically, we shall surely die to self.

            There are things more important than our own lives.

Story source: H. W. Brands The Man Who Saved the Union 

Must You Live?

            The great British author and linguist Dr. Samuel Johnson once rebuked a man for engaging in a shady business. The man replied, “You know, doctor, that I must live.”

            Dr. Johnson answered, “[I do] not see the least necessity for that.”

            Dr. Johnson was channeling Jesus, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”

Source: Edmund Fuller

Jump!

            Discipleship: a difficult word to define… an even more difficult concept to live out.

            It starts with total commitment.

            Here is a story I have often heard, best told by Gary Golike in the newspaper THE VALLEY NEWS.*            

           

          Tim Bowden, in his book "One Crowded Hour" about cameraman Neil Davis, tells of an incident that happened in Borneo during the confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia in 1964. A group of Gurkha soldiers from Nepal were asked if they would be willing to jump from transport planes into combat against the Indonesians if the need arose. The Gurkhas had the right to turn down the request because they had never been trained as paratroopers. Bowden quotes Davis’s account of the story:

          "Now the Gurkhas usually agreed to anything, but on this occasion they provisionally rejected the plan. But the next day one of their NCOs sought out the British officer who made the request and said they had discussed the matter further and would be prepared to jump out of the planes under certain conditions.

          "‘What are they?’ asked the British officer.

          "The Gurkhas told him they would jump if the land was marshy or reasonably soft with no rocky outcrops, because they were inexperienced in falling. The British officer considered this and said that the dropping area would almost certainly be over jungle, and there would not be rocky outcrops, so that seemed all right. Was there anything else?

          "‘Yes,’ said the Gurkhas. They wanted the plane to fly as slowly as possible and no more than 100 feet high. The British officer pointed out the planes always did fly as slowly as possible when dropping troops, but to jump from 100 feet was impossible, because the parachutes would not open in time from that height.

          "‘Oh,’ said the Gurkhas. ‘That’s all right, then. We’ll jump with parachutes anywhere. You didn’t mention parachutes before!’

            Until they understood completely, the Gurkhas were negotiating the height of their jump from the plane—without parachutes!

            The Gurkhas’ commitment to their cause illustrates the commitment called for in true discipleship.

           

Death to Self

            From TIME magazine’s Feb. 28^th issue, here is an example of self-denial:

            In the early twentieth century, Walter Reed and his three junior doctors, James Carroll, Aristides Agramonte and Jesse Lazear desired to discover the cause of Yellow Fever, which killed so many American soldiers during the Spanish American War.

            Exposing themselves to disease-carrying mosquitoes, Lazear died from the experimentation, and Carroll suffered long-term complications, which eventually killed him at age 53.

Gluttonous Dogs

I read, this weekend, that veterinarians in Great Britain are beseeching dog owners to not give their pets so many treats and table scraps. It seems that their animals are becoming overweight and not exercising enough.

I am not sure how I am supposed to feel about this, but I know how I do feel – convicted. My guess is that the dogs’ masters are projecting upon their animals the same desires that they have. These actions from the masters also reflect their lack of self-discipline. Unfortunately, the humans are hurting the health of the animals, just like they are hurting their own health.

What an indictment. I see this report as a great word picture for where we are in Western society today. We don’t govern our appetites; our appetites govern us. I suspect that when Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me..." he knew who his competition was—us.