Coward of the town or courageous hero?
by
Chaplain Kathie
We all make assumptions about other people. We may think someone should be respected because they look the part. The suit they wear, the style of a woman's shoes, the job they get paid to do, the area they live in, all go into what we think of other people we don't really know a thing about.
We make judgments about people attending our churches or other places of worship, thinking person at the front of the room is more noble, more religiously righteous above being religiously an expert. We hear their words, but do we know how they really live their lives? Do we know what goes on in their own homes? How they really think about the flock they are supposed to be tending to? Do we really know if God called them to be there or was it their own pride to have that much power over so many for doing nothing more than talking?
We make judgments about the people we depend on everyday, not really thinking about it, just doing it automatically. Men and women in the military, they are just doing their jobs, so we ignore them, what they are going through, what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, out at sea, in the air, but more troubling is that we ignore them when they come home.
We don't really pay attention unless one of them commits a crime and they make it into the pages of local newspapers or our local TV station.
We don't pay attention to responders unless we need them or again, unless they commit a crime.
We expect them to be perfect. We expect them to always be in control over their emotions. We expect them to always be courageous. We don't expect to see them cry when they hold a fallen friend in their arms or a child. We don't expect to see them consumed by memories of tragedies or the one too many they had to endure.
Maybe we don't really want to think of them as humans, just like the rest of us, because that would ruin it when we expect them to rise above being human and save us?
They are supposed to be brave but we never notice they are also supposed to be compassionate.
Courage does no good at all unless they have compassion in the first place, but we want to acknowledge this aspect of them last. The compassion they have is what makes them courageously willing to rush into danger for the sake of someone else.
Courage is still there when their compassion has had to face one too many burdens and their soul is wounded.
Even non-Christians know the story of Christ well. They don't really think about it very much when they are looking at some human in front of their eyes. Yet the story of Christ is a lesson in not judging anyone today.
He had no home. He wondered around depending on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter. He didn't have money in the bank. He had very simple clothes to wear. His compassion was legendary but His courage is often overlooked.
The story of His birth, life and death were written about 700 years before it happened and we still read about those days. His entire life was filled with the courage to live knowing how it would end. The crucifixion was not an accident. It was predicted. He knew this all His life yet He treated the people that would call for His death in the end, with compassion. Ever think of how much courage that took? Even if you do not believe He was the son of God, His story shows that compassion requires courage. Had He not had the courage to see it all thru to the end, He wouldn't have risked His life preaching about love, compassion, forgiveness and mercy surrounded by Romans with swords and shields. He wouldn't have risked the wrath of the Sanhedrin by healing a man on the Sabbath or preaching on the hypocrisy rampant in their actions.
John 11:35
Jesus wept.
This is the shortest and most powerful sentence in the entire Bible because it shows that even though Christ knew He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead and make his sister rejoice, He had great compassion for her when He saw her grieving for the loss of her brother. He could have dismissed her pain but He didn't. He could have gotten angry that she thought He had come too late to do anything, but He didn't. He knew in a very short time, He would be the one to lay dead after suffering, being humiliated, tortured, spit upon and hated. He set aside all that He knew would come for this woman in tears and wept for her pain.
That took courage as well as compassion.
Today we see the men and women in the military, expect bravery out of them, thinking they knew what they were getting into when they joined the military. We look at the men and women in the National Guards with the same lack of thought, thinking they knew there was a possibility they would have to go away from their homes and families and into combat when they joined. We don't want to hear them complain about long deployments and redeployments. We don't want to hear that they need help getting over what they had to go through in our names.
There are people in this country still dismissing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as if it isn't real. Some say that they are fakers looking for handouts. Why they never think that had this been the case, they wouldn't have been the type of person to be willing to risk their lives in the first place, is really very telling. The despisers never valued them and never will no matter what comes out of their mouths. Some will dismiss it because they are also suffering from it but want to deny it. They think admitting it makes them suddenly weak. Un-addressed PTSD eats away at them, making them angry, filled with rage and hate within their denial and they attack anyone daring to admit they have it.
When you are in the military or law enforcement, it takes a lot of courage to admit you need help because you cannot see that the compassion within you, causing you to go into the lives you did, was also the same thing making you suffer for doing it. The courage is still there but the pain is so deep you no longer see it.
Much as the courage of Christ was forgotten, we forget their courage to be willing to lay down their lives for the sake of others. We look at the "sins" we see like the Sanhedrin did. We see only what we want to see and judge others.
Readers of this blog are aware of Papa Roy, an IFOC Chaplain sending out daily reminders. It may help you to think about all of this during your day and change the way you judge others without really thinking about them, what they tell you vs what they do, what causes them to act the way they do, or even if they are telling you the truth or not.
Good morning, Friends!
We are all gatekeepers
As worshippers, we are all gatekeepers of God's presence. We each have a place where we have been assigned to co-labor with the Holy Spirit and each other. We have each been gifted in God's grace with His commission, with His commandments, and with Holy Spirit's gifts and callings. Some are called to be servant-leaders within the five-fold ministry. All are called to be lovers of Jesus and to prefer one another in love. In order to bring restoration and transformation to their family, workplace, government and land, gatekeepers must stand guard and assume their position of authority. Only then will we see change come (Catherine Brown)
Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
Where Is Your Focus?
Could we be building a "house" that looks terrific but is flawed and totally impractical? We're doing just that with our life if we are building it according to our own ideas instead of God's Word. Our skewed sense of morality lays a crooked foundation. Our neglect of our spiritual life allows our house to fall into disrepair. Our self-centeredness leaves gaping holes for the enemy to creep through. (David Egner)
In God we trust: Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. (1 John 2:3)
Papa Roy
Lord, help us to not just talk about you, but to live like you.
