To Serve or Be Served

I know it’s the time of year for joy and happiness, office parties and family gatherings, but take a little time this week or next to seek out a family which has a member in harms way serving in the Armed Forces overseas. Many have had their income drastically reduced with the major bread winner away from home. I know there are agencies in every community who know the needs and are helping such families through private donations from people who want to help but don’t know how. Here’s a poem I’ve received from several readers and thought this might be the time to share it.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, in a one bedroom house made of plaster and stone. I had come down the chimney with presents to give, and to see just who in this house did live. I looked all about, a strange sight I did see, no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree. No stocking hanging from the mantle, just boots covered with sand, and on the wall pictures of far distant lands. With medals and badges, awards of all kinds, a sobering thought came to my mind. For this house was different, so dark and so dreary, the home of a soldier, I now could see clearly. The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone, curled up on the floor in his one bedroom home. The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder, not how I pictured a United States soldier. Was this the hero of whom I had just read, curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed? I realized the families that I saw this night, owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight. Soon ‘round the world the children would play, and grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day. They all enjoyed freedom each month of the year, because of the soldiers like the one lying here. I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone, on a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home. The very thought brought a tear to my eye, I dropped to my knees and started to cry. The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice, “Santa don’t cry, this life is my choice. I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more, my life is my God, my Country, my Corps.” The soldier rolled over and soon drifted to sleep, I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep. I kept watch for hours, so silent and still, and we both shivered from the cold evenings chill. I didn’t want to leave on that cold dark night, this guardian of honor so willing to fight. Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure, “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”
[Matthew 20: 20-28] To serve, or to be served, that is the question; Whether ‘tis nobler to give or to receive. We live in a great country and most of us have not earned, nor are willing to pay for, the rights we demand, because it may very well result in the giving of our life. Jesus came to earth to serve and to teach. When offering to you and I the Kingdom of God, Jesus express that very thought. His sole purpose of being born, leaving heaven to live among men, was to die on a cruel cross producing freedom from sin and guilt for all mankind. Jesus opened the way to a new and personal relationship with God by taking away the sins of the world, bringing man and God together as one, once more, through the Holy Spirit. This new relationship is entered into voluntarily, but it takes a passport to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. It requires that one must believe Jesus is the Son of God, repent of all sins and be baptized, receiving the Holy Spirit. Are you willing to serve God for the freedom He gives? Will you teach others?