A soldier in His service

   I've been thinking back to the time I went to boot camp.  At the age of seventeen, I spent six weeks of my life training to be an Airman in the United States Air Force.  There were many others who had come to Lackland A.F.B., Texas for the same purpose, traveling by plane, train or automobile.

   We had come in order to learn what it means to be a soldier.  We did not know all of the ways in which those six weeks would affect us, or how much it would change us, but we were committed to letting our Training Instructors (T.I.'s) do what they would in order to train us to be soldiers.

   It was dark outside, as we filed onto a bus to be transported to the dorms, to the place where we would live and train for six weeks of our lives.  Life as we knew it would be changed dramatically.

   Once we arrived to our destination, men and women lined up on the cement underneath an overhang.  I'll never forget this moment.  I know we were all more nervous than ever, not knowing what was going to happen next.

   We all stood there in the clothes that we had traveled in.  This would be the beginning of a stage where we were referred to as "rainbows" because we had not received our uniforms yet.  It would be a couple of days before we would.  It was quite an awkward feeling walking around in your own clothes when so many others were in uniform.  With one glance, everyone would know right away that you were new to this.  I felt the disconnect and felt very out of place in my own clothes.  We had come to this place to take the plunge and identify ourselves with this group.  We couldn't wait to put those uniforms on!

   I was assigned to a dorm that consisted of about forty women.  We did everything together.  We learned that if one person failed, it affected not just them, but the whole group.  We learned to march in step and work together in unity.  We learned to shine our boots so well, we could nearly see our reflection in them.  Every piece of metal in our dorm room was brought to a spotless shine with "Never dull", not one piece of metal was overlooked.  Once we were given our uniforms, we were also given a little pair of scissors (I still have mine) and we used them to cut every little loose string we could find on our uniforms.  We folded our T-shirts into perfect little squares, folding the edges over a ruler to get them just right.  And of course our beds were immaculate.  In case you're wondering...no, I don't make my bed this way anymore!

   One of the first things we learned though, was our reporting statement.  Whenever we needed to speak to a superior, we had to begin with this statement: "Sir/Ma'am, Airman ______(last name) reporting as ordered."  We learned how to stand at attention when we said it.  I also learned (the hard way) that you don't have to yell when you say it.  Was it some war movie I saw or something?  The two T.I.'s standing there that day must've had a hard time restraining laughter as I stood there yelling my reporting statement.  Believe me, they yelled right back at me and just about scared me to death!

   Yes, training under these instructors was tough, and often frightening!  But in six short weeks, we found that we had quickly learned many aspects of being a soldier, every little thing they had us do had contributed to this.

"The Riverwalk" in San Antonio, TX.
We were allowed a special day out near the end of basic training.

   I remember a time when my T.I. called me into his office.  It was somewhere in the last couple weeks of training.  I had no idea why he was calling me in, but I marched into his office, stopped in front of his desk and did a "right face", so that I would be facing him.  I stood at attention and gave my reporting statement (this time without yelling).  I think back to this moment, this presenting of myself.  He had called, I had responded. Now I stood waiting for his instructions and ready and willing to obey his commands...

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, 
but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life,
and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:12-14


   Since I had enlisted in the service, I obeyed what my commander told me to do.  I went where they told me to go.  I had surrendered myself to this and they had equipped me for it.  I would not be a soldier just by putting on a uniform.  I demonstrate that I am a true soldier when I obey my commander and that means that I no longer do what I want to do, or what someone else thinks I should do, but I look to my commander for orders.

   As Christians, we serve whoever we yield ourselves to.  The Bible teaches that we are either serving God or serving our flesh with its lusts and that we cannot do both at the same time...

{Jesus said}, "No one can serve two masters,

for either he will hate the one and love the other,

or he will be devoted to the one and despise the

other.  You cannot serve God and money."

Matthew 6:24

   I was reading a sermon online recently and I jotted down the following quote.  I regret that I did not jot down the source, but I think it's worth sharing anyway.

  "A Christian is not simply a person who gets forgiveness, who gets to go to heaven, who gets the Holy Spirit, who gets a new nature.  Mark this, a Christian is a person who has become someone he was not before.  A Christian in terms of his deepest identity is a saint, a born child of God, a divine masterpiece, a child of life, a citizen of heaven.  Not only positionally true in the mind of God, but true in actuality here on earth.  Not only judicially a matter of God's moral bookkeeping, but actually.  Becoming a Christian is not just getting something no matter how wonderful that something may be, it is becoming someone."

   God is my commander now.  But he is not a harsh taskmaster.  He is a loving, yet firm commander who has called me out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).  And it was not so that I would carry on living as I did before.  It was for service to my Savior and King.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  John 14:15