One of the young men in our church, Eric Taepke, left earlier this week for Marine Boot Camp. Please pray for him over the next several weeks. Also, pray for all our other service men and women who are willing to sacrifice their safety for us. If you see one in uniform, pray for them and thank them for their service.
This reminded me of a great story I heard Tony Campolo share in a book I read recently. It’s simply called ‘The Grenade’….
A new recruit went into training at Paris Island, hoping to become a marine. He was one of those young men who seemed to be a bit out of step with the norm, and he easily became the subject of ridicule for those who enjoy picking on off beat people.
In the particular barracks to which this young marine was assigned, there was an extremely high level of meanness. The other young men did everything they could to make a joke of the new recruit and to humiliate him. One day, someone came up with the bright idea that they could scare the daylights out of this young marine by dropping a disarmed hand grenade onto the floor and pretending it was about to go off. Everyone else knew about this and they were all ready to get a big laugh.
The hand grenade was thrown into the middle of the floor, and the warning was yelled, “It’s a live grenade, it’s a live grenade! It’s about to explode!’
They fully expected that the young man would get hysterical and perhaps jump out a window. Instead, the young marine fell on the grenade, hugged it to his stomach, and yelled to the other men in the barracks, “Run for your lives! Run for your lives! You’ll be killed if you don’t!”
The other marines froze in stillness and shame. They realized that the one they had scorned was the one ready to lay down his life for them.
And so it was with Jesus. He was scorned by those He came to save. He laid down His life for His enemies.
You can read some of the other stories I’ve collected from Tony Compolo: It’s Friday but Sunday’s Coming, The Impact of a Teacher – Teddy Stallard story, God Doesn’t Need Superstars – A story about Billy.