This blog is based on references in the Bible to fear. God wills that we “BE NOT AFRAID”. Many theologians state that the eighth deadly sin is fear. It is fear and its natural animal reaction to fight or flight that is the root cause of our failings to create a Kingdom of God on earth. By “the power of the Holy Spirit” we can be witnesses and “communicators” of a new and redeemed humanity “even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7 8). This blog is dedicated to Mary the Mother of God.
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Wednesday, September 4, 2019
1 Maccabees, Chapter
3, Verse 55-56
55After this Judas appointed officers
for the people, over thousands, over hundreds, over fifties, and over tens. 56He proclaimed that those who were
building houses, or were just married, or were planting vineyards, and those
who were afraid, could each return
home, according to the law.
Judas is confronted by a large Army so what does he
do. He prays, fasts and calls on God’s mercy. Then he organizes all of the
people into squads, platoons, companies, battalions, and regiments. Then he
basically lets anyone who wants to go home go. To those that remain he says, “Arm yourselves and be
brave; in the morning be ready to fight these Gentiles who have assembled
against us to destroy us and our sanctuary. It is better for us to die in battle than to
witness the evils befalling our nation and our sanctuary. Whatever is willed in
heaven will be done.”
Judas only wanted real fighters. The mindset of Judas
reminds me of the mindset of the early Antarctic explorers like Ernest
Shackleton who wrote this famous advertisement for men of courage.
Men wanted for hazardous journey.
Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful.
Honour and recognition in event of success.
Sir Ernest Shackleton like
so many of his generation were ultimate adventurers – part hero, part daredevil
– fighting the elements and the odds, too far from civilization to call for
help – laying it all on the line purely for the love of adventure. Shackleton
led a doomed expedition to miraculous survival through the sheer force of his
motivational leadership. In 1914, he set out with a crew of twenty-eight men on
a quest to be the first to travel across the entire Antarctic continent by way
of the South Pole. His ship, Endurance, became caught in ice and was crushed. After
abandoning the ship, he and his men faced incredible hardship from a variety of
brutal Antarctic conditions – from shifting weather to shifting ice, along with
the trials of hunger, illness and discouragement – for more than a year. Yet
every man got home safely, when the entire expedition would have perished under
weaker leadership. Incredibly, the only casualty was frostbitten toes on one
man. He had passion for the adventure of the mission, but he also had passion
for the men he led. When he was forced to abandon his doomed ship and realized
he would not achieve his goal of reaching the South Pole en route to the other
side, he kept his disappointment to himself while he shifted his priorities to
the well-being of his men. He said to another leader, F.A. Worsley, “It is a
pity [to miss the crossing], but that cannot be helped. It is the men we have
to think about. “He put his men above himself. He understood that the survival
of them all might well depend on the quality of his leadership. He also
realized that he could provide better leadership if he served as well as led.
“Shackleton shared the physical labors as well as the watches…[He] would forego
his own rations in order to feed the undernourished or the ill. And he often
did so without anyone knowing it…Shackleton always put the needs of his men
ahead of his personal comfort, and as a result he saved them all.” He realized
that in order to survive they would have to stay healthy – mentally as well as
physically. When we are trying to survive, having fun is the farthest thing
from our minds. It may even be seen as trivializing the suffering. But during
harsh tribulation it is more important
than ever to find something to enjoy. During hard times we need to find a
source of joy in order to maintain a healthy perspective. As a leader,
Shackleton accepted responsibility for maintaining the spirits as well as the
health of his men. Yes, they were brave adventurers just as Shackleton was,
well able to take care of themselves. Still, Shackleton knew that as a leader
he could provide a unique kind of influence that would be empowering,
energizing and uplifting. He continually sought out ways to boost morale. He set
aside time for recreation. They improvised various forms of entertainment.
Several of the men had chosen books among the possessions they salvaged, and
they read aloud to each other. They played soccer on the ice. “Humor…played a
role, with Shackleton telling stories or teasing his men. What Shackleton was
doing was keeping his men alive inside; by encouraging them to read or sing, he
was keeping their spirits from sagging or dwelling on the inhospitalities that
in other circumstances might have overwhelmed them.” He Inspired Loyalty.
Shackleton’s passion for his mission and for his men, his passion for
leadership, and his passion for motivation were a source of energy and courage
during times of severe adversity. These virtues made him a leader that people wanted
to follow. Even when his men may not have wanted to do something for
themselves, they would do it for him. He inspired this kind of loyalty because
he gave it to his men. They respected and trusted him because he respected and
trusted them. They took care of him because he took care of them. They put him
first because he put them first. He was a wonderful example of what a role
model should be.
Shackleton
dedicated South, the book he wrote
about their extraordinary exploits, “To My Comrades.” In one especially moving
passage he observed: “In memories we were rich. We had pierced the veneer of
outside things. We had suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down yet
grasped at glory, grown bigger in the bigness of the whole. We had seen God in
His splendors, heard the text that natures renders. We had reached the naked
soul of man.” Sixty years after they had been rescued, the expedition’s first
officer, Lionel Greenstreet, was asked how they had done it, how had they
survived such a deadly misadventure. Greenstreet gave a one-word response:
“Shackleton.”
The Ice is Nice and Chee-Chee is Peachy
Over 100 years ago Roald Amundsen on March 7,
1912 announced his success in reaching the Geographic South Pole to the world.
This is the story about the construction of the South Pole Station in
Antarctica in 1973-4 by Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB71), also
known as the ICE Battalion, which the author was a member of. The difficulties
encountered in the construction of the station were monumental; enduring
temperatures reaching 45 degrees below zero with wind chill factors reaching 80
below. This station was comprised of a 52-foot-high geodesic dome, weather
balloon launch station and an observation tower for monitoring auroral
phenomena. This Battalion was on the ICE for almost five months and worked
around the clock to complete the project. This was an amazing fact when you
consider that most of the construction was completed in freezing temperatures
at a high altitude; for the South Pole is nearly two miles high by construction
engineers less than 20 years old. The physical and mental stresses of working
in this "frozen desert" took its tolls on these young men. This story
chronicles the authors experience in this hostile environment, with bawdy
engineers; humorous antics; hard drinking and temporary insanities and the
authors faith journey amid the beautify and grandeur of the earth's last
frontier: Antarctica. The title of the book is also the motto of the ICE
Battalion—it refers to our mission and our R&R (rest and recreation) in
Christchurch, New Zealand. “THE
ICE IS NICE AND CHEE-CHEE IS PEACHY”
“If
I Were the Devil” is a form of social criticism, an essay that postulates what
steps the devil might take in order to corrupt human civilization (and the
United States in particular) and lead it down the path of darkness — before
delivering the catch that all the steps listed are phenomena that are already
taking place in the world today. It was written and popularized by national
radio commentator and syndicated columnist Paul
Harvey. (Paul Harvy was born this day in 1918)
If I
were the devil . . .
·I
would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;
·I
would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man’s effort,
instead of God’s blessings;
·I
would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of the
other way around;
·I
would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;
·I
would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to
leadership;
·I
would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;
·I
would make it socially acceptable to take one’s own life, and invent machines
to make it convenient;
·I
would cheapen human life as much as possible so that the life of animals are
valued more than human beings;
·I
would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was
grounds for a lawsuit;
·I
would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I would
get sports heroes to advertise them;
·I
would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the mind of
every family member for my agenda;
·I
would attack the family, the backbone of any nation.
·I
would make divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family
crumbles, so does the nation;
·I
would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and
movie screens, and I would call it art;
·I
would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their lifestyles
should be accepted and marveled;
·I
would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who call
themselves authorities and refer to their agenda as politically correct;
·I
would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, and the
Bible is for the naive;
·I
would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is not
important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;
·I
guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.
“Come
to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
-Matt 11:28-29
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