Army
Ants
I'm reminded of a situation that happened when
I was in my last week of basic training in the army. We were
on a forced march. We were the blue team. Our
platoon leader was intent on going around the red team and surprising
them. He wanted to win badly and was pushing us hard. We were
in single file moving through high grass, brush and scrub
trees. The going was hot and rough. We had come through some
brush that was covered with large red ants earlier. Every few steps the
man in front of me kept muttering ouch! ###!**!
Owe! I ask him what was the matter and her replied:
"I have ants in my boot and they keep biting me!"
"Stop and get them out!" I told him. "No!" He said, "The
lieutenant will be mad and I will get in
trouble.
I kept at him and finally he agreed to stop. The two of us
ducked under a stubby tree and shed our packs and quickly checked each
other for ants. He removed his boot and sock. A
dozen angry big red ants came scurrying out. His foot was red and
starting to swell. I pulled my benadryl cream from my pack
and he slathered the bites.
Knowing that we would be in deep trouble soon we hurried to get our
packs back on and headed up the trail. As we were coming to
the top of a small hill we could hear a commotion ahead. We dropped to
the ground and crawled slowly up to the crest of the hill. To our
surprise our team had been ambushed and captured by the red team. Our
lieutenant was cussing and yelling at our team mates for not being good
enough. The red team was sitting smoking and laughing because
they thought they had won.
The two of us looked at each other and slowly backed down the
hill. We quietly moved down a brushy creek bed and followed it
around until we were behind the confusion. We then slowly
crawled through the tall grass until we were close. We stood
and recaptured our team and won the day. This happy little
act of disobedience is part of what put me into a group of only 5 out
of 100 men that were promoted out of basic training.
That day I learned that following blindly often gets one into
bondage. I also learned that those "in charge" do not always
have the followers best interest in mind. The goal
becomes all consuming. The nice thing about the body of
Christ is that the goal is always the same. Love God - love
others - koinonia. We do not have to capture anyone or any
place. He has already accomplished the victory. If
we love God, love others, and enter into the full sharing of koinonia
then we share the victory with Christ. After all, we are in
Him and He is in us. No pushing shoving and other silliness
is needed.
We have a lifetime of teaching and experience that tells us to follow
blindly and serve whether we want to our not. Jesus said come
unto me and I will give you rest. He also said something
about the parasites (sorry I meant Pharisees) loading people up with
burdens they themselves could not bear. Hmmm .. ?
Sound familiar?
Neil
