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| Jared in front of Founders Monu- ment in Plymouth Mass- achusetts last year |
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I'll be leaving Jared in Seattle. He is staying in the Northwest for the summer. He is now a Christian college student. He spent 8 years in the Marines.
I'm anticipating an inspirational trip with my strongman son. He can deadlift 650 pounds and hopes to work as a fitness coach this summer in Seattle. He is also open to work in the security profession, building on his career in the Marines.
On Mothers Day I met one of God's Marines on Main Street in Freeport. We were there at the invitation of our middle son, Sean. He and his wife Kim brought our two grandchildren up to visit with us in honor of Motherhood. God's Marine on Main Street was Brother Terry. I saw him from the restaurant where we were sitting. He was holding a large Bible and preaching to nobody in particular as shoppers sauntered by him on the sidewalk.
I asked Terry what it takes to be a Christian street preacher. Unsurprisingly he told me that you cannot be sensitive to rejection. He comes to that same spot in Freeport every Sunday afternoon between church services at the Deliverance Center on Congress Street in Portland. That is where Terry goes for fellowship.
The best Marine war fighters can kill or be killed. That's their job. They do it to protect and preserve the ideals of their nation. The best do it morally. They are not hypocrites in their own mind for killing. They kill or die within a moral framework. It is now actually easier to be an immoral war fighter than a Christian street preacher in the West. The ideals of the nation allow for no stress or tension in making war. We've lowered our expectations regarding relations between nations. Making war and delivering violence is a "virtue" instead of a horrific last resort. This reality makes it tough to be a Christian soldier. But it makes the job of killing easier.
Unlike a Marine who is nearly always acting as part of a unit, a Christian street preacher stands alone on a street corner. Unlike what is "preached" from the pulpits of most churches in the West the street preacher proclaims righteousness. He condemns sin and prays for peace. He pronounces the Word of God to whoever chooses to listen. He often stands alone, condemned himself by an increasingly callous public. The street preacher is God's infantryman. He's on the front lines. His gun is his Bible and his bullets are the eternal moral words that he proclaims.
He's also a canary in the coal mine. We'll know the iron curtain of totalitarianism has closed on America when we don't see or hear him anymore. Heaven forbid that we ever allow our nation to replace the solemn pleading of the preacher with the blaring five times per day call to prayer of the Moslem Muezzin.
I'm anticipating an inspirational trip with my strongman son. He can deadlift 650 pounds and hopes to work as a fitness coach this summer in Seattle. He is also open to work in the security profession, building on his career in the Marines.
On Mothers Day I met one of God's Marines on Main Street in Freeport. We were there at the invitation of our middle son, Sean. He and his wife Kim brought our two grandchildren up to visit with us in honor of Motherhood. God's Marine on Main Street was Brother Terry. I saw him from the restaurant where we were sitting. He was holding a large Bible and preaching to nobody in particular as shoppers sauntered by him on the sidewalk.
The best Marine war fighters can kill or be killed. That's their job. They do it to protect and preserve the ideals of their nation. The best do it morally. They are not hypocrites in their own mind for killing. They kill or die within a moral framework. It is now actually easier to be an immoral war fighter than a Christian street preacher in the West. The ideals of the nation allow for no stress or tension in making war. We've lowered our expectations regarding relations between nations. Making war and delivering violence is a "virtue" instead of a horrific last resort. This reality makes it tough to be a Christian soldier. But it makes the job of killing easier.
Unlike a Marine who is nearly always acting as part of a unit, a Christian street preacher stands alone on a street corner. Unlike what is "preached" from the pulpits of most churches in the West the street preacher proclaims righteousness. He condemns sin and prays for peace. He pronounces the Word of God to whoever chooses to listen. He often stands alone, condemned himself by an increasingly callous public. The street preacher is God's infantryman. He's on the front lines. His gun is his Bible and his bullets are the eternal moral words that he proclaims.
He's also a canary in the coal mine. We'll know the iron curtain of totalitarianism has closed on America when we don't see or hear him anymore. Heaven forbid that we ever allow our nation to replace the solemn pleading of the preacher with the blaring five times per day call to prayer of the Moslem Muezzin.
It is my sincere prayer that you will be faithful to your commitment and hold fast to your plans. To be trusted is to to be steadfast in your commitments.
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