As a 17-year-old recruit in boot camp, I had been given the order to stand the midnight
to 0400 watch over my barracks at Naval Training Center, San Diego. At one point in my rounds
I stopped at the rear fire escape of the second deck above a canal that led out
to the bay. Looking out over a moon-lit night lay the safety of the base fence.
Cars drove silently along in the distance while lights of the houses up on the hills
twinkled beneath a calm starry sky. And then this struck me…
What exactly am I guarding here? This is a recruit training base! We’re inside
a protected border in a non-war zone of a major U.S. city housing one of the largest
military bases in the country. So what was my purpose?
As today’s scripture verse says, those that Hear and
Obey and are Watching are (and will be) BLESSED.
In my watch, if I had gone to sleep or left my post I could have been
severely reprimanded or even court martialed - as inconsequential as it was to the
security of the nation.
The point is that no matter what you are given to do in this life, do it well and do it
faithfully. There is a reward for all those that HEAR God’s voice and answer His call.
It is not how big or important the watch we have been given, but how FAITHFUL we are in
carrying out what we are called to do.
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