Accomplishing the Mission - Boot Camp
We just had a serious day at church - serious in a good way. I long more than ever to be on the mission field. I got past my deadlines on creating mission oriented videos from photos given to me only a few days ago and now I've just been spending a few moments seeing what I can find interesting on YouTube.
As such I found the two videos of Marine Corps Boot Camp you see below. (There is a third one I liked that I won't include because of the strong language.) Honestly, they bring back fond memories. They are representative of the sorts of things I encountered in Boot Camp. You might think that many of these moments are pretty brutal. It was a brutal three months, but worth it.
I began this post with a brief reflection on my yearning for the mission field and quickly transitioned into Marine Corps Boot Camp. The two seem incongruous, but they are very much alike. Boot Camp may be brutal, but the goal is to learn how to effectively accomplish assigned missions under fire. It's the difference between life and death. My fellow Christians will recognize that our enemy roams about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel under spiritual fire and sometimes under the real threat of loss of life. The loss of physical life is nothing for us who have the certain hope of Christ, but the real danger is the life of those to whom we are called to proclaim the gospel. We cannot save them ourselves, but God uses the obedience of His people through evangelism to make certain His election.
From the testimonies of my fellow short-term missionaries tonight I was reminded of something I already know - the Great Commission has as much to do with the spiritual development of the missionaries as it does the salvation of the people to whom they are called to go. Taking the gospel to people is training for further spiritual warfare.
Interestingly, I've discovered that even the most mature Christians among us are susceptible to spiritual attacks that could kill our witness in a moment. Likewise, even the most highly trained warrior can be taken down with a single bullet. The stakes are higher in Christian missions because we deal with eternal life. However, we have the Spirit of God and He will allow us to persevere through confession and repentance. I'd rather be on the mission field.
Ok - enough rambling. On to the videos of fond brutality...
As such I found the two videos of Marine Corps Boot Camp you see below. (There is a third one I liked that I won't include because of the strong language.) Honestly, they bring back fond memories. They are representative of the sorts of things I encountered in Boot Camp. You might think that many of these moments are pretty brutal. It was a brutal three months, but worth it.
I began this post with a brief reflection on my yearning for the mission field and quickly transitioned into Marine Corps Boot Camp. The two seem incongruous, but they are very much alike. Boot Camp may be brutal, but the goal is to learn how to effectively accomplish assigned missions under fire. It's the difference between life and death. My fellow Christians will recognize that our enemy roams about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. Our mission is to proclaim the gospel under spiritual fire and sometimes under the real threat of loss of life. The loss of physical life is nothing for us who have the certain hope of Christ, but the real danger is the life of those to whom we are called to proclaim the gospel. We cannot save them ourselves, but God uses the obedience of His people through evangelism to make certain His election.
From the testimonies of my fellow short-term missionaries tonight I was reminded of something I already know - the Great Commission has as much to do with the spiritual development of the missionaries as it does the salvation of the people to whom they are called to go. Taking the gospel to people is training for further spiritual warfare.
Interestingly, I've discovered that even the most mature Christians among us are susceptible to spiritual attacks that could kill our witness in a moment. Likewise, even the most highly trained warrior can be taken down with a single bullet. The stakes are higher in Christian missions because we deal with eternal life. However, we have the Spirit of God and He will allow us to persevere through confession and repentance. I'd rather be on the mission field.
Ok - enough rambling. On to the videos of fond brutality...
Labels: boot camp, Christian, Marine Corps, Marines, missions
posted by Jim Pemberton at 10:56 PM
2 Comments:
Marines Rock!
Something from Michael Yon's Blog
Arrowhead Ripper was merely the latest experience that underlines the Army’s rapidly-growing expertise. Yet the Marines have adapted faster and seem poised to win the war in their battle space. In fact, it’s been Army officers who have told me repeatedly over the past several years that nobody is successfully morphing to meet this war faster than the Marines. Of course, Army officers who compliment Marines always say, “But that didn’t come from me.”
Here's the link of the article this came from. I read Michael Yon's Blog often to get a different (and hopefully more accurate) report of what is actually going in Iraq.
Semper Fidelis, Bro, "Always Faithful"!
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