Defining Terms, 5

Continued from "Defining Terms, 4"

The final element that went into creating my concept of Christian Martialism is the sheepdog concept.

Once upon a time my barber (before he was my barber) and I worked in the security department of a health care facility. It was one of those jobs where your employer (and more that one felllow-worker) sees you as useless, but from time to time you may have to put yourself on the line.

As fellow-believers, we became friends and offered each other mutual support to survive our daily run of the soul-crushing gauntlet. We also shared and discussed every bit of information, insight and philosophy that would further our training to face the confrontational aspects of our job.

Some time later, when I was working at another place, my friend (who had now finished barber school) brought a book by for me to read. It was Lt. Col Dave Grossman's On Killing.

"You've got to read this book. We're in here," he told me. I wasn't sure exactly what he meant, but I read the book, and when I reached the page where Grossman describes sheepdogs, I knew.

I called my barber on the phone and told him that I knew exactly what he meant when he said we were in the book. It described us in a way that, up to that point would have been hard for me to articulate.

Later, when I put it all together, I saw the sheepdog concept as the vocation or calling of the Christian Martialist. He is the sheepdog whom God has appointed to physically protect the flock. (Of course, if he's the right kind of sheepdog, he will also strive to see that the sheep thrive in every way.)

This evidently has struck a chord with a small but [I believe] highly significant niche of readers. Perhaps you came to this blog and recognized yourself (as my barber and I did in Grossman's book). Or perhaps the ideas were new, but you came to embrace them.

Either way, I am gratified and humbled that some of you have found value in my writing (and writhing) as I struggle with the challenges of our vocation.

As I look ahead, I see before us an enemy host who think they are an advancing tide. They are, in reality, merely a wave in the power that is ebbing before Him who rules until all His enemies are under his feet. (see Psalm 110)

The battle is nonetheless dangerous. Therefore, may this new year find us all a little better prepared -- spiritually, mentally & physically -- for the challenges that lie ahead. And may my WARSKYL blog have its part in that preparation.