The United States Marine Corps was established by the Second Continental Congress on November 10, 1775, as the Continental Marines.  Still considered "The Marine Corps Birthday," it is celebrated by personnel and veterans alike as a time to remember one's own service and the brothers who have fallen, similar to Veteran's Day but specifically for Marines.  A Birthday Ball is held with a formal dinner, birthday cake, and entertainment.  Perhaps more than any other branch of the services, Marines feel a connection to each other, long after the battles are over.  Yet I have noticed that when it comes to tragedy and hard times, people with the same experiences always find each and create a special bond.

              Over twenty years ago, while on his weekly rounds as a probation officer, Keith was ambushed and shot five times by one of the convicted felons assigned to him.  It was a terrifying experience.  The word spread through all branches of the Department of Corrections and law enforcement.  Once we were sure he would survive and the details of his success in handling it were made known, we received well wishes and get well cards, emails and phone calls from people we did not even know, including the Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections. 

           Probation officers all over the state congratulated him because it validated them as law enforcement officers themselves.  Many offered to donate some of their sick leave to him so he wouldn’t have to go on workman’s comp, which would have paid only 2/3 of his salary.  One of the news stories mentioned that he had been in the Marine Corps, and a couple of ex-Marines sent emails ending with the sentiment, “Semper Fi!’  Add this to the people who helped us that very night, including a local fireman who had heard the radio traffic, and after I had driven the forty miles to the town where this all happened and stopped at his station to ask directions, decided to drive me on the next 30 miles to the hospital.  He also called his wife to follow us in his own truck so he would have a ride home, dropped me off at the emergency room, parked the car, and paid the parking fee.

              Brothers in arms come out of the woodwork when a need arises.  They band together and support one another.  They offer service far beyond the minimum precisely because they are brothers.

              That’s the way the church is supposed to work.  We think we have found one that does.  When one of us has a serious surgery, the waiting room is full.  When there is an accident or medical emergency, the walls of the ER are lined with folks awaiting word.  Cars park along every piece of curb in our neighborhoods when one of us is called home.  The line to greet a wayward brother as he arrives back to his spiritual family fills the aisles to the back of the building.  When prayers are requested, if there were such a thing, the switchboard in Heaven would be jammed.  I know.  I have been on the receiving end of those times. 

              I am often bemused by things some do and do not allow to be announced during the services of the assembled church.  “That’s not a work of the church,” is patently false.  We are to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.”  We are to “encourage one another to love and good works.”  We are to “train the younger” and “support the weak.”  We are to gather “from house to house” and “practice hospitality one to another.” 

               If we can pray for it, why can’t it be announced?  And if we aren’t praying for the stability of newly married couples, the safe delivery of new babies and their mothers and the wisdom of new young parents, strength for recently graduated seniors set to go out and make their marks in the world, and thanking God for the examples of fiftieth wedding anniversaries, what in the world is wrong with us?  I can see Jesus shaking his head and muttering something about “straining at gnats and swallowing camels,” as we insist on the artificial boundary of a spoken “Amen” before we announce something in exactly the same room to exactly the same people.

              When something momentous happens in a Christian’s life, whether good or bad, his brothers and sisters in arms should come streaming out to meet him with whatever he needs.  He shouldn’t need to count on the world to support him and offer help.  And beyond that, they should be the daily spiritual support, the ones he counts on and runs to, and the ones he in turn aids far beyond the barest necessities.  Shame on any congregation when they are outshone by the carnal groups in this world.  They are supposed to be the spiritual family, the family of God.  When something happens in a family it affects them all, and this family should be the one that cares the most and gives the most because we all share the same Father, the same Savior, and the same salvation—undeserved grace.
 
             Brothers in arms are neither silent nor invisible.  If they are, then they aren’t the brothers they claim to be.  They know what binds them together and nothing can break that cord.
 
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.  1Cor 12:26.
 
Dene Ward
 

Did you see it on Facebook?  "Ten Reasons a Southern Woman Will Always Survive a Horror Film," put out by "It's a Southern Thing."  It was cute, funny even, in spots.  Of course a Southern woman would never be caught in high heels in the woods.  Of course her car would always start because her daddy taught her how to maintain it.  And on it went.  I had thought of much of this before and I am sure you have too.  Why in the world would anyone go down in the basement alone when they heard a scary noise?  Why would any idiot open the door at night without looking to see who it is when there is a serial killer on the loose?

              But then I started thinking about spiritual things.  When we get caught by the snares of the Devil, aren't we being just as dumb?  God has already given us a list of reasons that we should survive.  Let's look at a few of them.

              1.  Exercise your faith.  If the car won't start, it's usually due to poor maintenance.  How am I doing at maintaining my faith?  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Heb 5:14).  Are you training your ability to tell right from wrong?  To know what you ought to do in a difficult situation?  To avoid the traps so many step right into?  If you never even think about how to overcome and make some definite plans, how do you expect that "car" to start when you need to get away quickly?

              2.  Don't hide in the closet, or on the rooftop or any place where there is no escape.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1Cor 10:13)  God will always provide that escape plan, but you will have to look for it, and you certainly have to avoid those places where you cannot get away no matter how hard you try.

              3.  Be on the alert, be ready, be prepared.  High heels in the woods make no sense at all.  Too many times we make the same mistake, always planning for things to go perfectly instead of planning for the times when they do not.  ​Put on your sneakers instead of your stilettos.  There IS a serial killer on the loose and you WILL need to run at some point.  Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38).

              4.  Don't go wandering around in the dark.  Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12).  Look where you are standing.  Is it a place where the Lord is shining?  If where you are is not where the Lord is, you need to leave and leave now.  Just look for the glow and head there.

              5.  When the lights goes out, flip the breaker!  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1Thess 5:11).  Sometimes you become tired.   Sometimes you wear completely out.  That's when you look to the support of brothers and sisters who love you.  That is why God planned the church.  He knew better than we do, that sooner or later the power will go out simply because we become weary.  When you get tired, find that fuse box (your brothers and sisters) and flip that breaker.  I guarantee you, the power will come back on.

              6.  When you run by a shed full of tools, stop and get one to use as a weapon.  We are blessed with a whole suit of armor.  (Eph 6).  Put it on and use it.  You are not being corny, or pessimistic, or absurd—you are being smart.

              7.  Don't stand there screaming—RUN!  Flee fornication, idolatry, the love of money, youthful lusts (1 Cor 6:18; 10:14; 1 Tim 6:10,11; 2 Tim 2:22)—and anything else that can trap you and take you down.  It isn't brave to stand there and fight a monster—it's stupid.

              8.  Don't go in the basement, people.  If you use your head, you can come up with a host of places a Christian has no business being in, and many more situations he has no business participating in.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Rom 13:14).  "Making provision" meaning planning.  It's like being on a diet but loading the cookie and candy jars the day before you start.  Don't plan to fail, because that is exactly what will happen.

              I hope doing this in a fun sort of way will help you see these things more clearly.  If the Devil were Freddie Kreuger, too many of us would walk right into his waiting arms.
 
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Eph 5:6-10).
 
Dene Ward

A few years ago when we were babysitting, the first afternoon that we picked up Silas from kindergarten, he came rushing out to the car shouting, “I got purple!  I got purple!”
  
               In his school every child starts the day on green, and his behavior moves him either up the color chart to blue and ultimately purple, or down the chart to yellow, orange, or red.  Red means mom and dad have to come in for a serious talk.  Usually all the obedient, well-behaved students end up on blue, and everyone is perfectly satisfied with it.  But purple?  Purple takes something extra-special.  It is the height of achievement for a student.  No wonder he came out running, shouting, and grinning a smile as wide as our windshield as we watched him through it.

              Why is it that I can’t have the same glee, the same sense of accomplishment and exhilaration when I overcome a temptation or grow out of a bad attitude?  Why don’t we all come running to share the good news with one another?  I’ll tell you why—because we are a bunch of judgmental grumps that’s why.  Two things are going to happen if anyone opens his mouth about these things.

              First, someone is going to gasp and whisper to another, “You mean he has trouble with that sin?”  We can’t share our accomplishments when we are afraid people will look down on us, will lose respect for us, and will probably gossip about us at the first chance they get.  “Did you hear about so-and-so?  Did you know he has these problems?”

              Second, someone else will puff out his chest and say, “Tsk, tsk.  Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall!”  We can’t share our successes without someone thinking they have to knock us down a peg because of our “pride,” as they so hastily judge it. 

              In both of these cases, shame, shame, shame on us!  Those are unscriptural, even sinful attitudes.  Gossip, which is nothing less than slander, is included in that horrible list of sins at the end of Romans 1.  And what in the world do we think it means to “Encourage one another?”  It means when a pat on the back has been earned, give it!  Don’t hoard it with the self-righteous notion that we are doing what is best for the person’s soul—“wouldn’t want him to get the big head.”  Would you do that with your children?  Would you never praise them for their successes, but only criticize their mistakes? 

              AA doesn’t do it, and God doesn’t do that either.  And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”  Job 1:8.

              The Psalms are full of statements by people of God who know they have done right.  The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight, Psalm 18:20-24.

              Don’t tell me it’s because the Old Testament people did not understand grace and were all about “earning” their salvation by keeping the Law.  “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart…Deut 9:4,5.  O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy, Dan 9:18.

              Those people knew they had not earned God’s love and mercy, but they also knew when they had done well in keeping His commandments.  Why do we think it’s a sin to recognize that?  The apostles didn’t.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing, 2 Tim 4:7,8.

              When my grandson came running out that day I could easily have told the difference between arrogance and joy.  Why can’t we tell the same thing about one another?  Why can’t we share victories over Satan and expect others will be just as happy about it as we are?  God wanted us to know we are saved; he wanted us to be confident in our destiny. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, 1 John 5:13.

              I’ll tell you this, if we are going to “become as little children” and so inherit the kingdom of heaven, we had better stop acting like peevish, petty grown-ups.  With that sort of behavior we will never be able to run down the streets of Heaven shouting, “I got purple!”
 
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: Yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified, Who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant, Psalm 35:27.
 
Dene Ward

"It is absurd for the evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything."

George Marlin, Richard Rabatin, John Swan, eds, The Quotable Chesterton:  A Topical Compilation of the Wit, Wisdom, and Satire of G. K. Chesterton

Men and women are different when it comes to directions.  Men want exact road names and exact number addresses.  Women?  We’re happy with, “Turn by the weeping willow and it’s the house with the closed-in carport.”  Even if I have been there before, Keith does not feel secure if he doesn’t have something more than, “Two roads past the firehouse and the next door neighbors have a yard full of crabgrass.”  I always thought it was my vision—I haven’t been able to read street signs in years, forget those numbers on the houses.  But no, all my women friends give directions exactly the same way:  turn left at the round-about and it’s halfway around the next curve where the honeysuckle blooms on the mailbox.  Can we help it if men can’t tell the difference between honeysuckle and plumbago?

              Funny how that also describes the difference in people spiritually.  Some people want a list.  Here, they seem to say, I’ve done this and this and this, so I ought to be all right.  Then there are others who go by what “looks right” or “feels right.”  I recently heard a young woman who has decided she wants to be a preacher say this: “When I walked into the room, I just felt at peace, so I knew God was saying that was all right.”  And this woman wants to preach the gospel?

              Just like you need a good balance of exact address and some helpful landmarks when following directions, maybe you need a good balance of exactly what is right and what is wrong plus the common sense to know when something just doesn’t “feel right.”  In Galatians 5 Paul ends that list of the lusts of the flesh with, “and such like,” and the fruit of the Spirit with, “against such there is no law.”  “Such” means he hasn’t listed every single thing, but if you are honest, you should be able to figure this out for yourselves.  It should be obvious to anyone with a normal IQ, he seems to be saying, but here is a list to get you started.

              “The Bible doesn’t say it’s wrong,” is an excuse as old as my grandparents at least.  I’ve heard it all my life.  It’s just an admission that the person doesn’t have the sense God gave a goose, the common sense He expects us to use when we are trying to determine His will. 

              You can’t check off your service to God as if it were nothing more important than buying groceries and you can’t tell Him it felt good so you fell for it, even if it did violate the plain words of scripture. 

              God gives us directions that are easy to follow—as long as you want to do His will.
 
If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood, John 7:17-18.
 
Dene Ward

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1Pet 1:3-4)

              We moved to Illinois in 1975 and stayed for two years.  It was this Florida girl's introduction to snow, icicles, and blizzards, and we are not talking Dairy Queen.  We lived 100 miles south of Chicago in flat corn country.  Yes, it did get warm in the middle of summer, for a few days until the heat wave "broke," which no matter how hot it was still cannot hold a candle to 5 months of Florida summer.  But we also had our first frost in September and snow on Thanksgiving morning, and I even wore a sweater once to a Fourth of July picnic. 

               But every time something new happened, I stopped whatever I was doing so I could experience it.  The first snow was just a "flurry" but I stood there watching it "flurry" in the light of the streetlamp for a good half hour.  Keith grew up with at least a little bit of snow in the Ozarks, and had been stationed in Philadelphia for a time, but he says that watching me in the snow made it all new again.  I built snowmen and snow tunnels in the six foot drifts between houses, and threw snowballs for the first time in my life.  I sledded on those flat, icy roads, towed behind a farmer's pickup truck.  I even learned to drive on snowpack to the grocery store.  It was new for me, so it was all new again for him too.

               The same thing happened when we took the boys to Disneyworld for the first time.  Disney opened in Orlando when I was 18, and Keith and I went together, then with my family, and then again on our honeymoon.  It was old hat by the time the boys came along, but seeing it through their eyes made it fun again.  Watching their smiles and hearing their laughter, seeing them cozy up to the characters like they were real, was the best part of the trip for us.  We had seen it too many times before otherwise.

               And then it seemed like every State competition they went to in high school was held at Disneyworld.  As part of the package they were given free tickets to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  By the time they were juniors and seniors in high school, they brought those tickets home unused.  They had seen it all too many times.  It was no longer exciting.

                That will never happen in Heaven.  Do you see that verse at the top?  We will receive an inheritance "that fades not away."  The glory, the joy, the newness of it all will last forever.  You will never tire of it, and never become jaded by the bliss it offers.  The thrill of a child's first time at an amusement park will be nothing compared to the ecstasy of being with the Father and the Son who made it possible, an ecstasy that, like the inheritance itself, will "fade not away."
 
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Col 1:11-12)
 
Dene Ward

I am sure you know someone just like him—or her, for that matter.  I know one of each.  "No one can tell me what to do," they say loudly and often.  At the same time, they renew their driver's licenses, pay their bills on time, file a tax return, stop at red lights, and, if they don't obey the speed limit otherwise, they will slam on brakes when a trooper appears over the next rise.

              Still, they rankle when told what to do, even kindly-intentioned advice.  All rules are for others, not them.  And conscientiousness is only for wimps.  When people like this become Christians, if that attitude does not become "Thy will be done," and "Each counting other as better than himself," they will cause trouble wherever they go.  They willfully forget this:  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. (Heb 5:8).

              Jesus, the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, learned to obey.  As someone recently told me, I am probably the least qualified person out there to exegete a passage theologically, but this one seems to say that someone did, and indeed could, tell Jesus what to do.  Let's see if we can learn anything from the humble obedience of our Lord.

              1.  Jesus paid the Temple tax, even though he, of all people, should not have had to (Matt 17:24-27).  Peter had assumed the Lord would pay the tax just like everyone else.  It was part of the Law.  First Jesus patiently instructed Peter about why he was not obligated to pay, but then told him he would, "so as not to give offense."  I have seen too many Christians claiming their rights when concern for others' souls should have caused some discretion.  Humility does what it doesn't necessarily have to do for the sake of others.

              2.  Jesus told the people to obey the Pharisees even though they were hypocrites (Matt 23:1).  I have seen Christians go out of their way not to listen to people they disagreed with, even if those people were right according to Scripture.  In fact, I have seen them change their minds just so they wouldn't be on the same "side."  Truth is the only side we should be on.  If that means we are obeying elders or preachers or Bible class teachers who are scripturally correct about that particular thing, even though we might disagree with them about something else, then so be it.  To do otherwise is to disobey God, not men.

              3.  Jesus allowed himself to be led by the Spirit to be tempted (Matt 4:1).  He obeyed this direction of the Spirit for us, so show us how to meet temptation and to prove that it can be done.  How many trials and temptations would we willingly take on for someone else?  It's all most people can do to serve when it's pleasant and convenient, much less uncomfortable and even dangerous. 

              4.  Jesus put up with a group of hard-headed, obtuse, petty, arrogant men, just so he could leave this world with qualified leaders for his church (Matt 16:18, 17:17, etc).  That church was part of God's plan from the beginning (Eph 3:8-12), so it had to be done.  These were the 12 best he could find, yet still it was a struggle, and not all of them made it despite his work, worry, sweat, and tears.  But Jesus did it because it was the Father's plan.  And he puts up with us for the same reason.

              5.  Jesus went to the cross, even though he was sinless and did not deserve it, because it was God's will ("Let this cup pass…but Thy will be done").  "This is not fair," would have come out of my mouth.  How about yours?  And if he thought it, he never said it, and certainly did not act on it.  He obeyed to the point of death—for us.

              Now, what was that about no one telling me what to do? 
 
​“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15).
 
Dene Ward