Each year, on the third Saturday in May, the nation expresses appreciation and
gratitude to our men and women in uniform. They are our Armed Forces, America's
soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coastguardsmen.
An interesting tidbit from Chaplain (Lt Col) Dwight Johnson - stationed at Ft
Meade via Col Joseph L. Shaefer, ACC AXO-ID MA, Dated: 29 Jul 1999.
I was one of more than 300 runners in the NSA Armed Forces Week 5K run (Ft.
Meade, MD). It was pretty crowded at the start, but things thinned out after
about five minutes or so, and I took my bearings. Perhaps 200 yards ahead of me
was a group of maybe 8 Marines or so who were obviously running together. I
decided that a good goal would be to beat them, which seemed reasonable, as I am
a macho Air Force Chaplain and they were only a bunch of United States Marines.
I kept them in sight for the next couple of miles, but the longer the race went
on, the younger those guys got. It became apparent to me in the last half mile
that I was not going to catch them, and I resigned myself to finishing well
behind them.
Then I noticed that one of their number was struggling and was gradually
dropping off the pace. I panted out a word of encouragement as I caught him and
realized that he was not about to give up.
Within 100 yards of the finish line I saw a strange sight. The entire group of
Marines made a U-turn in the road and was running back towards me. As they ran
past me I noted their well-chiselled muscles and the determined set of their
jaws. I glanced over my shoulder in time to see them rally around their buddy to
provide the emotional support of the team so that they could all finish
together. I was impressed. No way would they leave a struggling comrade behind.
As I entered the finishing chute I murmured a prayer. "I'm glad those guys are
on our side." And so it was that I learned a theological truth from the U.S.
Marines that is as vivid as any my seminary professors ever taught. "If anyone
sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in
him? Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1
John 3:17,18)
I witnessed "a few good men" in action. They reminded me of the strength of
being a team, and that words without actions are pretty much useless. Thanks,
Marines.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
Thanks to WITandWISDOM(tm) - May 19, 2000
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