Near and Far Faith

Why we fight. It's the ninth episode in the ten-part series "Band of Brothers". Loved the series. Watched it 3 times (it's 10 hours long). Read the book (I don't read much). I love war time drama. Not necessarily today's. I'm really into WW2. It takes you to a simpler time and war strips everything away. It's you, the guys next to you, and life or death. Doesn't get much simpler than that. I almost wish life were that simple on a daily basis. But then without the complications there'd be no children, no money, no pain medication, no preferences, no blood, no... distractions.

So why the distractions? We all know that distraction is a huge part of life. In fact comedy central had a season-long game show called "Distraction" in which contestants would attempt to answer questions, simple ones, while being wildly distracted. Once two out of the three people were eliminated the final test was a set of questions and if they didn't answer them quick enough, their prize (a car, laptop, Vespa, you know, just stuff we want) would slowly be beaten. As we attempt life, are we being distracted? Of course we are. It's life. Why though?

Here's my thought: I believe that Christ allows for distractions so we may hone our ear to Him. Without adversity there is no growth. During the course of the above mentioned mini series, the training that the men of "Easy Company" had to go through included a lot of night maneuvers. They got to the point where they trained so much at night that they knew each other from the simple swagger and shape of their night-cast shadow. That is the knowledge that I crave and i believe that we all should. Knowing God and His direction from the faintest whisper. It's a long road. It's up hill. It's a fight. There are bullets. There are grenades. There are traps. There are pits. We fight to know Him. By knowing Him we know ourselves. By knowing Him we can better show Him to others. Push through the distraction.

Episode nine is called "Why we fight" because Easy Company has made it into Germany and has found a concentration camp. It suddenly becomes crystal clear to the men why they have fought for so long. Endured so much. It's right around the corner - it's the camp of the lost and beaten and misguided and mis-fed.