Perspectives

As a young sailor in the Canadian Navy in 1956, I read the ships order for the following day. The first thing which catches my eye is there will be a live gunnery drill off the west coast of Canada. My name is among the list of men who will take part in this gunnery exercise, and the gun that I will be firing has shells (bullets) that weigh about 31 pounds.  Never in my life have I fired anything bigger than a service pistol, a rifle, a machine gun. A hundred different thoughts have a field day with my mind … what will it be like? What will it feel like? Will I remember what to do? Will anybody sense the fear in the pit of my stomach?

Dense fog obscures our vision as we slip out of the harbour; all we can see is a few feet ahead. The mournful wail of the fog horn doesn’t help the weird feeling deep inside me. No time to dally about. Systems are checked, protective clothing for the gunnery crews are issued. Before we head for the upper deck the gunnery officer gives the customary pep talk and we are ready to carry out our orders. Once on the upper deck it takes only moments to prepare the guns for action. Ammunition is sent up from the ammunition rooms located just below the guns and placed in a storage bay behind the guns. Tension in my stomach is indescribable. Then the order comes to load the guns. Each shell (or bullet) feels like it weighs a ton as I push the shell into the breach-block. Then I step aside just as I hear the order … Fire! Without thinking I hit the firing button with the open side of my hand and at that moment everything around me seems to be on fire; the blast, the concussion has its effect; I am out of there, I run to hide. The next thing I hear is the gunnery officer shouting for me to get back to my gun. Collecting my senses and whatever courage there is left inside me, I return to my gun, reload and fire. But this time I do not run: Something changed, the fear was gone and in its place a strange excitement. I could feel the power of the gun every time I hit the firing button. What was different? What happened? It’s almost as though for a moment in time I thought that I would never die, and in my hand was the power of life and death.

Immortality: What a thought!! The idea that we could be immortal is the most inspiring thought in all human history.  Let your thoughts wander about a little, just imagine for a moment that it was impossible for us to die, that we would never age beyond a certain age, no matter what happened to us, whether at war or at peace. Better still, that we ourselves should live on and on never to fear war, never to fear death. An incredible thought!! However, if we give our heart to Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches that we will have eternal life.

We have been taught to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. That means our love for ourselves is the standard for how we are to love others. Let’s have a look at the verse found in the Bible in the gospel of Saint John 15:13 often quoted during Remembrance Day services … Greater love hath no man than this, that  a man lay down his life for his friends … The idea here means, that this relationship should reach for a higher level than mere friendship. That is what Jesus did; He gave His life for us so that we could have eternal life. When we as a country … I mean Canada from coast to coast gets involved in other countries to make life better for their citizens, we will disregard all the rubbish that is being said. We may even go so far as to disregard the pain of personal sacrifice. And there is a very good chance that we will disregard the fact that they are not even our own countrymen. Soldiers, Sailors, Air Force and Arm Force personnel do just that, they go, even if that sacrifice means death. They have given their best … they cannot give more … and the rest is up to God.

Let’s pray: Heavenly Father: Let us not forget those who are serving in our armed forces. Let us also remember that you know our heart.  We acknowledge that we’re sinners. We now invite Jesus Christ to come into our heart to forgive all our sins. We want our life to change. Many times our thoughts and attitude aren’t that great, please help us to have a positive attitude and good thoughts. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will help us to be the kind of Christian that will bring honour to Your Name. We pray this in Christ Jesus’ name. Amen