Pastor's Corner
July, 2003
I read a story about the deep friendship of two soldiers in the trenches during WWI. Two buddies were fighting side by side in the mud and misery. Month after month, Jim and Bill lived out their lives in the cold and muddy trenches.
From time to time one side or the other would rise out of the trenches to attack, flinging their bodies against the opposing line and slinking back to lick their wounds, burying the dead, and waiting to do it all over again. In the process, friendships were forged in the misery. Jim and Bill became particularly close. Day after day, night after night, terror after terror, they talked of life, of families, of hopes, of what they would do when, and if, they returned home.
During one of the attacks, Jim fell, severely wounded. He couldn’t get back to safety. His friend, Bill made it back to the relative safety of his own trench. Meanwhile Jim laid suffering in the open battlefield, between the trenches, alone.
The fighting continued. The danger was at its peak. Between the trenches was no place to be. Still, Bill wished to reach his friend, to comfort him, to offer what encouragement only friends can offer. The officer in charge refused to let Bill leave the trench. It was simply too dangerous. As his commander turned his back, Bill went over the top. Ignoring his own safety from flying bullets and possibly military discipline, Bill made it to Jim.
Sometime later he managed to get Jim back to the safety of the trenches. Too late, his friend was gone. The somewhat self-righteous officer, seeing Jim’s motionless body, cynically asked Bill if it had been “worth the risk.” Bill’s response was without hesitation. “Yes, sir, it was,” he said, “My friend’s last words made it more than worth it. He looked up at me and said, ‘I knew you’d come’.”
“I knew you’d come.” He was assured that his friend wouldn’t leave him out in the “cold” suffering by himself. This brought me to think about what the Bible says about dying for a friend. We know a person may die for a good friend. But very rarely will anyone die for a good man whom he doesn’t know. It is illogical to expect someone to die for his enemy. But it is this kind of unfathomable love that Christ has for us. He died on behalf of us so that we may gain independent from the bondage of Satan and the penalty of sin. How unimaginable the love of God has for us!
Before I sign off, I wish you would accept God’s love as a free gift for you. And if you have accepted His free gift, remember Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants . . . I have called you friends.” He also said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” If you are in need, you know he’d come.
Pastor Larry
