"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase"
1 Corinthians 3:6
A Message From the Horne of Africa
"At The Going Down of the Sun. . ."
05 24 2009
Rows and rows of identical, neat white crosses dotted the landscape. As I stood there surveying the scene, a chill of both sadness and admiration ran up my spine. It was so peaceful even though close by was the hustle and bustle of the cosmopolitan city. Such a tranquil turf belied the chaos of war that brought the heroic fallen to lie beneath those neat crosses. A small crowd watched in awe and silence as the guards at the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier" went through their deeply moving routine. Their precise and slow-motion marching added a sense of unreality to the occasion. It was as though you were observing a dream being played out before you. In the midst of that Gethsemane flickered the "eternal flame" over the Kennedy Monument. Those who were "permanent residents" were the ones who had chosen to lay down their lives for freedom--not just for America but for the world. Even though I was not born in America, as a citizen of the free world I was a beneficiary of their selfless sacrifice. It is hard not to shed a tear when you see how so many lives were cut short from the allotted "three score and ten or four score years" granted to us by our Creator, Psalms 90:10. This was Arlington Cemetery, one of the most dramatically moving places in the world.
May 25 is "Memorial Day" in America. The nation deliberately stops to remember those who died in combat for us. It is easy to forget the fallen as the years intervene and wipe out the memory of those events, but it can never wipe away the tears of the bereaved. In South Africa, when my soldier brother died, I was honored to do his memorial service in Cape Town some years ago. He had come up through the ranks in an army that once fought shoulder to shoulder with the British and American forces against Field Marshall Rommel, the "Desert Fox," in the North African theater of war. Though he was just a boy when that war ended, he enlisted in the Permanent Force using his knowledge of first aid acquired in the South African Red Cross to make his mark among the blue berets of Medical Corp. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, serving at last as the CEO of the huge military hospital in Wynberg, Cape. The wounded came to that hospital after facing the Cubans in Angola and after encounters with terrorists in the Caprivi Strip. At his funeral, I quoted the famous words on some epitaphs in South Africa--"at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them." Arlington is a place that gives additional significance to that statement. The sun goes down on our peaceful little world because they remembered us at the crucial moment.
In the army of God, we are soldiers of the cross, 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Our war is not against "flesh and blood" but it is spiritual conflict, John 18:36. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. It is said, "Today's enemy does not wear a uniform and stride across battlefields in attack formation. Rather, he or she blends with civilians only to be a less obvious target..." In that guise the most damage can also be inflicted on the unwary soldier of the cross. It is a critical battle of conflicting ideologies that we face. It is getting harder to recruit real combat-ready soldiers, who will pay the ultimate price for the Kingdom of God. Our soft soldiers of today avoid "Boot Camp" (Bible Study) like a visit to the dentist. Many also shy away from "combat" against destructive philosophies and false teachers because they have chosen to be inadequately trained for the conflict. No one can make Christianity a "spent force" but we ourselves.
Let us be heroic volunteers for the Cause of Christ. Let us not hesitate or delay. Let us emulate spiritually what the heroes of Arlington did physically. Let us fight under the banner of the cross! When it comes time to laying down the weapons of our warfare, we will not occupy a place beneath a white cross in a cemetery. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, the Cross of Christ will have reserved a place for every combat-weary, foot-sore but happy soldier of the Cross in the realms beyond the sky. Calvary added, not an "eternal flame," but an eternal element of life as the reward for our labors. And. . . no soldier of the cross will ever be interred in an "unknown tomb." You see, "The Lord knows those who are his," 2 Timothy 2:19.
Love you all,
Al--"the Horne of Africa."