Neal was a marine in Iraq during Desert Storm. He and his platoon served as an outpost searching for enemy movement or activity of any kind. On one very ordinary day, they were suddenly being shelled by enemy mortars. The spies had been spied. Ordinary became intensity in a moment. Everyone reacted according to his training. They grabbed their gear, threw their stuff and themselves into the Humvees, and escaped with all accounted for. When those guys see each other fifteen years later, memories like this one come to the surface and they enjoy a oneness that others just can’t understand.
Those marines shared a common training. Then a common experience requiring a unified response resulted in a sense of oneness.
When Patricia and I began to plan for marriage, we agreed that we would make the Bible our foundation. As we saw those around us who lived by its truth, we saw the kind of fruit that we wanted in our home and family. We agreed to be trained by God’s Word. We sought to find the Biblical response to a situation and put it into practice. In James 5:13-14 he explains it this way:
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.
Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him
and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him
and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
The Bible became our common everyday training. We read it every morning, we listen to it often in the car, we memorize it together at meals, we discuss it around our table. As our children have grown, we have sought to instill this same training in them.
Through the years we have been shocked into action by surprise mortar shells:
The doctor stated, "Judith has spinal meningitis."
A call at night: “Your son has been in an accident; he is being taken to the hospital.”
“Your property value has dropped below its cost.”
A call at night: “Your son has been in an accident; he is being taken to the hospital.”
“Your property value has dropped below its cost.”
Through illnesses, accidents, financial difficulties, we have followed the pattern in James: understand the situation, find the Biblical response, then do it. We have survived. All are accounted for. We have been blessed to enjoy an ever-deepening degree of oneness within our family and an ever-broadening degree of joy within the body of Christ.
Make the Bible your training, make its words your intentional responses, watch the unity deepen.
