There is a classic scene from a classic movie that I love. The movie is Glory. It is about a Union officer in the Civil War who has drawn the assignment of leading an all negro unit into battle. Interestingly enough even though the whole war centers around freeing the slaves. The men in this unit find themselves relegated to non combat duties and are not given the opportunity to fight for the Union. That is until the last. The scene I refer to is one in which the platoon is involved in assaulting a fort and somewhere in the battle the flag is dropped as the flag bearer is killed. The officer in charge grabs the flag and with certain death coming he charges the guns with flag held high leading the men into the battle. Gotta love a leader who will willingly die to lead a group into the battle.
My son is almost 7 and my wife has been married to me and my leadership for over 20 years now. The question is: As the leader of our home, where am I leading them? Do we have a clear vision as a family? Does my son know what a man is supposed to be by looking at me? Do I have a clear understanding of my role or am I just passing time? Tough questions that merit tough answers? Most men hide behind their families and their responsibilities to them to excuse themselves from going to battle. The battle I am referring to is the battle for the souls of men that is being waged between the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness. When my boy grows up I don’t want him replicating a lifestyle of family centeredness at the expense of Kingdom work. I want him to remember a dad who took him to the battle. I want his first smell of gunpowder to be from my gun. I want my wife to remember me not as a good man or a good provider or even a good husband (though I want all those to be true). But, I want her to remember how I grabbed the flag and charged up the hill with my family in tow to a place of honorable service. Even if I get battle scarred in the process. Grab the flag boys, we are heading on up!
Life and times of the howitzers 