Mottos

Life is a trip. God put me on the road to service in the Navajo Nation and three months later returned me home. To see how the whole story began click here. I've had occasion to ponder on two different mottoes lately. Both are well known, at least in the United States. The motto of the Boy Scouts of America is "Be Prepared". The motto of the U.S. Marine Corps is "Semper Fidelis". In English, the Latin phrase, semper fidelis, means "always faithful." Like Paul, I tend to do the things I ought not to do and to not do those things that I should. This is where I need to train myself to be better prepared. While on the Navajo Reservation, I always carried a two-gallon gas can in my truck and usually carried a case of bottled water tucked behind the seat. I was told, early on, that I needed to be prepared for New Mexico and reservation conditions. I often drove to places where there was no ready supply of gas. Sometimes I forget to check the gas gauge in the truck, so the gas can was my attempt to be prepared. It wasn't unusual to find Navajos thumbing for rides to various places on the reservation. This is where the bottled water came in handy. In the Four Corners area, there is a constant need to stay hydrated. I was able to offer water to anyone that I picked up thumbing and the offer was never turned down. I was prepared to help them. I am not always so prepared. On the way across the Florida panhandle, I stopped one morning for breakfast in a small town. As I pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the restaurant, a large, black man leaned into the passenger side window. He told me that he was going from business to business through the town applying for work and not having much luck. In fact, that was the reason he was just leaving the restaurant, he said. He went on to say, however, that he had no money to eat and hadn't had a meal since the previous day. He asked for money for food. Anyone approaching me to beg for money or to try to sell me anything is almost always out of luck. I immediately raise defensive walls and this time was no different. I mumbled some excuse for not giving him any money and went on inside for my own breakfast. As I was leaving town, I happened to get caught at a stoplight. I glanced over at a strip mall and saw the same man leaving one store and turning into the next store. I realized that, perhaps, he was actually doing exactly what he said and going from door to door looking for work. I now know that I should have been better prepared to consider his plight and I will try to be better prepared. Instead of throwing up those defensive walls, I will be better prepared to listen to and consider the stories of anyone who approaches me. That doesn't mean that everyone will get money from me. In fact, most people still will not. In this case, however, I was already stopping to eat. I like to talk to people. Inviting him to join me for breakfast would probably have been a good experience, certainly no hardship, for me and would have allowed me an opportunity to witness to him even if it was only by a little act of charity. I want to be better prepared to recognize everyone as a child of God and to follow through with a small act of charity when it is possible for me to do so (sometimes, I really just don't have any money!) I am not always faithful. The United States Marine Corps is always faithful: to the USA, to the Corps, and, most of all, to each other. God is always faithful. To quote a fellow blogger, "The phrase is 'Always Faithful.' It isn't 'Sometimes Faithful.' Nor is it 'Usually Faithful,' but always. It is not negotiable. It is not relative, but absolute." God's motto could be "Semper Fidelis." Mine will never be, no matter how hard I try. Sometimes, it is hard for me to remember that God is always faithful. I've been home for a week. In some ways, that doesn't seem like a very long time. In others, it seems like forever. Try standing in a room with all of the doors closed to you for a week. You will probably begin to feel trapped. You might start thinking that there is no way out, that no one will ever open a door to you. I am having trouble remembering that God is always faithful. I want to work in full time service to God here in Winston-Salem. Nothing seems to be happening, though I have tried hard to network. Am I meant to go back to work in some part-time job and volunteer when I can? That is not what I want nor how I feel. God's motto is "Semper Fidelis," but I wonder, is He being faithful to me? If He knows my heart, why does it feel so empty at this moment? Please pray that I will be able to except that God is always faithful to me and that I will have the love and patience to remain faithful to His plans for me. I love all y'all, Ross