With gratitude to God and the countless soldiers who have laid down life and given their blood for the cause of freedom …
Like genesis and deuteronomy, the word "exodus" is rooted in Greek rather than Hebrew. Though it literally means "exit," it is also used to refer to departure in death (Luke 9:31 and 2 Peter 1:15).
There are four kinds of exodus for the warrior.
The first is upon enlistment, when he (or she) exits the civilian life and gives himself to the defense of country, when his life ceases to be his own, when there is no longer an departure from duty and return home at each day's end.
The second is upon entrance to a foreign land, when he exits the beloved soil of all secure and familiar, when he is subjected to things alien and thoughts hostile.
The third is upon engagement, when battle and threat and terror comes to possess a warrior's thoughts and emotions, actions and words—when he exits the luxury of living in isolation of bloodshed and death.
The fourth exodus is the final exit from all service to country and duty to mankind.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for those he loves.
~ John 15:13
Whether or not they choose to enlist, every man and woman is called to daily lay down one's life for loved ones and Beloved Lord.
Whether or not they choose to enter such territory or actively engage in this battle of life, every man and woman faces a final exodus.
More next time on that.
Your are invited to join my prayer in the meantime …
Lord, thank You for Your exodus from Heaven and exodus from life to redeem us. Thank You for inspiring men and women to fight for freedom. Thank You for thus far preserving our many freedoms in the USA. Please enable and direct our grateful service to You and to country.
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
In a land long ago and far away of another life, I wore a badge, carried a gun, and clad my feet in boots of thick black leather. The badge left a permanent thin blue line in the blood, the gun weighed heavily upon an indelible bruise, and the spit shine atop the boots belied the soil embedded in the tire tread.
Though my feet roasted all summer and were more cold than comfortable in winter, I refused to trade in over-the-calf protection and thick soles for the black sneakers or Thinsulate favored by some officers. No footwear could make the rare foot chase my strength, while everyday police work regularly took me into dark field and indoor debris which required more attention to arena than topography.
Thought of walking in rough terrain came to mind on a recent day, when I donned boots to crush the budding wasps nests I knocked down along our eaves. A couple of hours later I found myself driving across the bad side of town on an unexpected errand of assistance. When I stepped into the kind of building more familiar in the time I pledged “to serve and to protect,” I thanked God that I happened to be wearing thick soles.
"Take care lest you forget the LORD your God … when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses … "
~ Deuteronomy 8:11-12 (ESV)
Nestled in my comfortable nest of nearly grown babies and online co-workers, I sometimes forget the land where squatters and dopers inhabit charred shells of abandoned mansions, where overgrown city parks conceal dead bodies and two-footed predators.
I sometimes forget the severity and proximity of spiritual famine.
In the Bible, famine regularly followed the forgetfulness of prosperity. When Jesus noted how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, He stated the obvious. History has proven, time and time again, that wealth induces memory loss. The more we are insulated from need, the more we are inclined to forget our Provider until the day destitution overtakes us.
Give me neither poverty nor riches
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, "Who is the LORD?"
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God.
~ Proverbs 30:8-9 (NKJV)
Where lie your riches? What is your food? Whether financial, intellectual, emotional, healthful, influential, or relational, they hold the potential to pilfer your attention and reliance from God.
Drawing a blank on names and faces, failing to remember why you walked downstairs, and realizing that an important deadline has passed on are annoying forms of memory loss. They pale beside the memory loss that forgets to depend on God for everything from the next meal
Every step we take is in a world of rough terrain—not the topography of danger to body, but the arena of comfort which insulates us from hunger for God.
Infinite, almighty God, we desperately need You. Please open our eyes to spiritual destitution, whether within us or surrounding us. Let us not forget You, for even a moment.
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
"Give, and forget. Receive, and remember."
~ Unknown
In the last year or two, memory loss has begun to plague me. Connecting names and faces has always been an embarrassing weakness of mine, and it's becoming worse. Lists have become necessary to normal functioning—but not everything can be put on a list. Without the calendar and audible alerts on my iPod, I'd probably forget to leave the house at all.
Perhaps I've practiced forgetfulness for too long. I've worked diligently to erase from memory the sins of youth that the precious blood of God's Son has covered. The Lord has necessarily blessed me with an unusual capacity for forgiveness, and that gift also comes with the practice of not remembering. And I'm inclined to believe this: intentionally cultivating a grateful heart for God's many blessings makes one inclined to forget things clothed as a curse.
Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: "For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house."
~ Genesis 41:51 (NKJV)
If Joseph could forget at age thirty, there's probably little hope for me as I turn fifty. A primary cause of memory loss is medication side effects, but I don't take any and therefore have none to forfeit. Vitamins might help. But, of course, I forget to take them.
My only solution is prayer, with reliance on God to keep me on track. If the Lord allows my memory loss for no other reason, I'm willing to call it good.
Lord, please help me this day, and every day, to remember the most important things: You, Your Word, Your people. Please let me not forget anything You will me to do. Please give me peace about the rest. Please give this prayer to anyone else who needs it. Thank You. I love You. ♥
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Thirty years ago I traveled as often and as far as I could afford. The topper shell on my '82 Toyota pickup provided my roof. The cooler and sleeping bag and were all the kitchen and bedroom I needed. Each year I'd recruit a sibling or cousin to tour the West with me for a couple of weeks and see something new, my wanderlust incurable and never disappointed.
These days, I traverse the globe via the internet. My own humble blog is visited from Australia and Sweden, Indonesia and South Africa, Germany, France and Italy. I intend to one day see such places, and especially Israel.
But I will never get close enough to the land of Jonathan and Peter, Mary of Bethany and Abigail.
My daughter says I was born two or three thousand years too late. She sees clearly that my heart resides in a land and time captured in the pages of Scripture—that I could step into that place without missing a beat.
Full well I know that the Lord lives in no one time, no one land. I comprehend that the Holy Spirit living within me brings me as close to Him as if I watched the Red Sea part, heard Jericho's walls fall, smelled the incense of temple worship, felt the earth shake beneath Calvary.
But like the woman who reached out a finger to grasp the fringe of our Lord's garment, I perceive in my soul that if I could but touch the people and events that stir my heart when I read Scripture, power would flow to me.
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children …
~ Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (NKJV)
Perhaps I think that if I read Scripture long enough, hard enough, I will—like Alice in Wonderland—break through some mysterious barrier and step into its pages, touch its God, and, perchance, form a direct link from Him to my children.
We read the Psalms (sometimes Proverbs) together each night before bed. We study Bible (currently Genesis) for homeschooling. We listen together as the pastor preaches on Sundays. I sometimes blog through a Bible book (recently finished John), and I'm currently doing another, non-chronological, read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year outline (just started Deuteronomy).
My incurable wanderlust always searches to see something new. Anticipation seizes me whether I crack open dog-eared pages or click open one of my computer Bibles. I am never disappointed, except by the distance.
And I pray that in some miraculous way, God will grant to me the privilege of bridging that distance. I pray for you and for me that we might be conveyed across the time and miles into Scripture.
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Do you ever read something in the Bible that seems unreasonable?
"And levy a tribute for the LORD on the men of war who went out to battle …"
~ Numbers 31:28 (NKJV)
My first impression of this directive was that it seems a little unfair to ask the guys who went to war to pay a tribute. It seems that the people who rested at home and still benefitted from the war should be the ones to pay the tribute.
What's more, God's law also required that soldiers returning from battle weren't allowed to immediately reunite with loved ones, but were first banished for a week as unclean for their contact with blood and death (Numbers 31:19).
The warriors evidently had no problem with all this. They were happy to be alive. They willingly paid the atonement price for doing their duty:
"Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. Therefore we have brought an offering for the LORD … to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."
~ Numbers 31:49-50 (NKJV)
Do we serve with as much grace in spiritual warfare?
Do we perceive the numerous conflicts we face each day as skirmishes in which we may prove that evil is overcome only with good? Will we allow ourselves to be humbled so that God may be exalted? Or do we think ourselves creatures designed for comfort and rest, who should be neither conscripted for war nor asked to pay its cost?
Our comfort comes not in the avoidance of conflict, but in approval from the Lord in how we meet inevitable conflict.
"Nothing is work unless you'd rather be doing something else."
~ George Halas
Our rest is found in embracing the Lord's will as our own.
Lord, make us worthy warriors. Allow us to see privilege in fighting for You. Please, Lord, enable us to enter Your will and Your rest.
: : :
For more on this thought, see "Anatomy of an Ephiphany."
Comments are welcome (including respectful disagreement) and will receive a reply.
You may also contact author via Twitter – @anne4JC
or e-mail – buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2012, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
