“Hey Sir, what’s up,” I answered. My Company Commander’s voice came over the phone. “Chuck, you need to get in here. One of your Soldiers got a DUI.” I processed the news, “. . . who was it Sir?”
My commander revealed the name and I couldn’t even picture the guys face. I had been a Platoon Leader for less than a week. Now, at age 23, I had to drive to work and counsel a 25 year soldier with a wife and a daughter. I was not attending church at the time, nevertheless, God used me. We’ll called him Jenkins.
“Jenkins… I want you to think about something… there are two ways you can react to this. You can begin to hate life, feel sorry for yourself, and blame the Army for screwing you over. Or, you can choose to work hard and prove you want to be part of this team – that you want to go to Afghanistan with us and help us complete our mission. I can’t make this choice for you. But, I’m offering you a clean slate if you are willing to work for it.”
Things did not magically change for Jenkins overnight. The DUI was at 0.08 and by the grace of God was dropped. But, he began to turn things around. I spent time checking on him. More importantly, his squad leader gave him the tough love and mentorship he needed. Now, PFC Jenkins is on his way to becoming a Staff Sergeant.
Often times we are like young Soldiers. We want to sit and sulk when we make a mistake. We think that God is going to discipline us at every turn. Even worse, we think if we work hard enough we can earn his love. But this is not God’s heart.
God’s heart is a message of grace freely offered – the Good News that Jesus Christ, a perfect man, died to pay for the sins of imperfect people. Once accepted, we are citizens of His kingdom, sons and daughters, soldiers in his army. In my story, PFC Jenkins had choose the offer of a clean slate. He had to make the choice, I could not make it for Jenkins. In the same manner, God cannot make the choice for us. We must make the choice.
I cared a lot for the men and women who served under me. And I wanted them to be successful and grow up to one day to teach other Soldiers. For them to grow, I had to allow them to make mistakes and put them in tough spots to make them soldiers that could thrive in combat. This is how God operates. He offers us a clean slate, but we need to repent, prepare for battle, then attack the enemy.
God has taught me many lessons on His leadership through the military. Now, he is preparing me to go into the 10/40 Window – an area with 3 billion “unreached” people that have never heard the Gospel. With the strength of God and the Holy Spirit as our guide, we intend to change that!
