Welcome to the Mighty Men Training Institute

In John 15:13, Jesus said, "The greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends."

As great as that kind of love is, imagine laying down your life for someone you don't even know – indeed, someone not even from your own country.

American soldiers, sailors, pilots and marines have been doing just that for the entire history of this nation. They have exhibited the selfless love of Jesus, who laid down his life to confront and defeat monstrous evil. For this reason, Christians can observe Memorial Day with an extra layer of understanding and gratitude for what has been done to keep us free.

In his song "Arlington," Trace Adkins sings the lines, "every time I hear 21 guns, I know they brought another hero home to us." That's worth thinking about.

Sometime during the next few days – in the middle of the barbecues, rounds of golf, family gatherings and the other activities that make up a holiday weekend – take time to reflect and say "thank you" to our fallen ones. And pray for God's protecting and guiding hand on those who are serving today (including my nephew David Johnson in Tikrit and a young man from my hometown named Peter Fritz who is in Baghdad and has seen some very rough stuff lately).

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The great Rich Mullins has a song called, "My One Thing," and it helps illustrate John 15:1-8.

Rich sings, "Everybody I know says they need just one thing. What they really mean is that they need just one thing more." So people chase after extra stuff like possessions, power and prestige when instead they could have a relationship with Jesus, who says, "Apart from me you can do nothing."

The reason we want all that extra stuff is due to role confusion. Jesus says he is the true vine and we are the branches. But we think we're the vine. Heck, I know a few folks who think they're the whole vineyard. These are the folks who prune Jesus out of their lives, or who try and stuff him into a box labeled "For Use Only On Sundays."

That strategy can make you look big and strong for awhile. But it can't last. You can't bear good fruit that way. It's impossible. You're not in charge. You're not the one holding the pruning shears. How many people have you known who said they didn't need God and ended up withered and thrown into the fire?

"I don't want to lose the eternal for the things that are passing," sings Rich. Jesus says, "Already you are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me."

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The Bible tells about the people of Israel and their 40 years of wandering in the desert. As they were heading for a place called "the promised land" they would often encounter obstacles.

In the book of Numbers, we read a story about one of these roadblocks. The Edomites would not let the people pass through their land. Instead, they insisted the Hebrews go around them.

That's when the griping started. "We don't like our leaders. We don't like our food. We don't like all this sand." Then the people became mad at God. "He doesn't love us. He doesn't take care of us. We should have stayed in Egypt."

God responds to this impatience and ingratitude by sending fiery serpents to bite the people. In very short order, the same people who were grumbling at God were wailing to him for rescue. That's because they got their focus back.

Then Moses came up with another way to help the people regain their focus. He made an image of a fiery serpent and put it on a pole high enough for all to see. He told the people, "If you are bitten by a fiery serpent, look at this pole and live." And it worked.

God doesn't send us fiery serpents today, but we do often encounter things in our lives that can bite us just as hard. I had three big serpents bite me last year in the deaths of my father, my only brother and my best friend.

Biblical scholars see the serpent on the pole as a prophecy of how Jesus hung on the cross. That tells us how we should respond when we feel the bite. We keep our focus and attention on the Lord, the giver of all good things. We look to the healer.

To see Jesus, a few things are required. First, we have to be pointed in his direction. Second, we have to have our eyes open. Third, we have to look at him – not merely to see him, but to concentrate on him.  

One more thing is required: we have to be moving in his direction. And as we're moving, we need to remember this: That the Jordan is deep and wide, but we'll find freedom on the other side.

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