Victorious warriors win first and then
go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win – Sun Tzu
A status
report from the frontlines from the desk of 41 year vet Staff Sergeant JT
Morris II (333 Regiment – Armor Bearer Corps)
Ten – hut!!
At ease….
Dearest
Brothers and Sisters-at-Arms,
I want to
first thank you for your vigilant efforts to keep the forces of evil at bay. The
enemy is busy attempting to destroy everything in its path and their forces are
tenacious, their methods devious and unscrupulous. There have been innumerable
battles waged and still countless more to come. But know that your courage and strength
in the face of the enemy’s relentless attacks has not gone unnoticed and is certainly
not unappreciated. I know firsthand what it means to step onto the field of
battle with the odds completely stacked against you. I know the anxiety of
girding yourself for war not knowing whether or not you will even return from
the field of battle yet having to muster the courage to make the ultimate
sacrifice if necessary. I know what it’s like to find yourself separated from
your comrades having to take on the enemy with nothing more than a promise that
no weapon formed against you shall prosper and the tenacity to see the battle
to its ultimate conclusion (Even if its ultimate conclusion means my demise). For as with all true soldiers it’s not the
fear of death that consumes us, it’s the fear of not having given our all on
the field of battle in pursuit of victory if the cause is virtuous enough.
My fellow Soldiers
of Light …. stay encouraged!
Many an
intended death blow has been landed, yet here you remain. Battered, broken and
scarred at times beyond recognition. Yet here you remain….immovable. The enemy keeps making a serious mistake with
you which ultimately will be their undoing….. they keep leaving you alive to
fight another day. They constantly underestimate your survivability and resolve.
Ain’t no quit in you and this absolutely
baffles your attackers. You survived
their attack and now you are wiser, stronger and more determined than ever to
see the enemy conquered. Now understand that we will not always be aware of how close we may be to victory or defeat.
There will be times when all seems lost and hope may begin to fade. The
important thing to always remember at times like this is that the battle is not
yours, it’s the Lord’s. He will not suffer you to be defeated. You may lose a
battle or two….or twenty …. but remain encouraged for you are promised to win
the war if you stand fast on the promises of the One that will supply you with
everything you will ever need to be victorious.
Now there
will be those in our ranks that secretly have aligned themselves with the enemy
and will seek to destroy us from within. For as the word of God so clearly and
eloquently states:
For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places – Ephesians 6:12
The key here
is to recognize the enemy when you see them. Use the God given discernment that
you have been graced with and accept them for who they are –Those that wish to
disgrace and ultimately destroy the Kingdom of the Most High and every single
thing associated with it. Enemies of the State. One doesn’t have to get a
passport stamp or watch CNN to see a terrorist. They reside right here among
us. I observe them every single solitary day. Preying on the destitute,
slandering those that be of upright conversation, the gossipers, those that
seek to destroy the promise of undiscovered greatness in those that they see
around them. The unfortunate thing is that those that have found their way into
our ranks are not as easily recognizable as they once were. Unfortunately, so
many in our ranks have begun to allow the enemy to use them causing more chaos and
confusion than the enemy ever could on their best day. Ours is a society that relishes in the exigent
circumstance. Short version…..an Exigent Circumstance is a Circumstance that
for all intents and purposes “requires” an immediate response. The term is
typically used by law enforcement to justify circumventing certain laws and
policies but it can easily be applied to society’s mindset as a whole.
Individuals today are twice as fast to respond as they are to listen which is
the total opposite of what the Creator intended. After all, the majority of the
individuals that I have encountered in this life all had one mouth and two ears.
Meaning that the Most High wanted want us to listen more than we speak. Actively
listen to what is being said. Try within all your ability to comprehend what is
said to you or around you. Sadly, individuals today listen to respond instead
of actively listening to understand what a person is saying to them. This
unfortunately has sparked a many an unnecessary dispute and unnecessarily sows
seed of strife in soil that has been designated to bear bountiful fruit
completely ruining future harvests. Every spiteful action taken or unfavorable word
spoken against you does not require a response. Sometimes the best response to
those pessimistic or cynical individuals that you find within your ranks is no
response at all. Now no one is saying
that this will be easy or to be anyone’s emotional doormat. I mean come
on. Honestly.. the easiest thing to do is to respond in kind, especially if the
offense is personal enough. However, as one matures the “big picture” becomes more
important immediate personal gratification. The hand that you bite today may
have to feed your children tomorrow. The person you unnecessarily tormented may
eventually hold the key to your survival. Karma is not a respecter of persons
and the Homo Sapiens’s statute of limitations on Mercy has the most stringent of time constraints.
Notice I said human being’s capacity for mercy. God’s mercies are renewed daily
and were it not for His graciousness, a lot of us would have been lost long
ago. I personally have been the beneficiary of the Most High’s mercy more times
than I can or even care to count. Which is why I no longer take His or anyone’s
ability to forgive for granted and try to be more of a compassionate individual
myself (Sometimes to a fault).
But I digress…
It’s amazing
how a manuscript a couple of millennia old can speak so specifically to the
state of affairs in today’s society. Ephesians 6:12 describes in absolute
detail the all out assault that has been launched by the enemy to control your
actions through sectors of our world’s government and unfortunately we have
begun to freely relinquish a great many of the rights many of our Ancestors
sweated, bled and died for. Cameras everywhere practically monitoring your every
move, Population Control to limit and sometimes stop procreation, an assault on
true freedom of speech (being vocal or sharing your beliefs may cost you your
life or livelihood depending on where you live), Classism, Racism (Alive and
well… don’t get it twisted) are but a few examples of how the world’s
government are subtly (or not so subtly depending in what region of the world
you reside) suppressing the masses’ ability to live freely and bountifully.
To my
reluctant warriors out there, be not dismayed or guilt ridden in fighting the
good fight for the word says that there is a time and place for everything
(Eccl 3 chapter) and that there is absolutely nothing new under the sun ( Eccl
1:9). Trust and believe that at some point that someone, somewhere is fighting
the same sort of battle that you find yourself in the midst of. Yet while the
circumstances are similar your tactics and strategy are not. You were made an
original, therefore your response to what happens to you is yours and yours
alone. Make sure that it is in line with who you are and Whose you are.
To my prayer
warriors out there, keep sending them up. We need those prayers now more than
ever. Society as a whole is in absolute disarray. Up is down, left is right.
Time tested roles and old fashioned values have taken a back seat to what’s
flavor of the week….sorry of the day (Most people’s attention span nowadays lasts
about…… huh? What were you saying?).
Turn down for
what? How about because some of you should be freakin’ exhausted from doing
waaaaayy too much. Some of you need to sit the hell down and act your age. As a
matter of fact, have SEVERAL seats…... Immediately without hesitation. I’m
getting tired just watching you. Just sayin’…..
To my prayer warriors, pray for peace. The world we live in today needs you on your knees, on your face, in your closet, basically wherever your ‘quiet place” may happen to be. Lift us up and keep us lifted because please believe that the enemy is working double overtime to silence you. I’m reminded of my namesake in the Word of the Most High:
To my prayer warriors, pray for peace. The world we live in today needs you on your knees, on your face, in your closet, basically wherever your ‘quiet place” may happen to be. Lift us up and keep us lifted because please believe that the enemy is working double overtime to silence you. I’m reminded of my namesake in the Word of the Most High:
Confess your
faults to one another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much – James 5:16
The word that stands
out in that passage is “healed”. So many people today are simply looking for
redemption. Society is so full of broken and guilt ridden individuals. Being
born and raised in the “Bible Belt”, I witnessed firsthand people getting beat
over the head with the Word for their transgressions by some the same people I
just happened to be elbow to elbow with at “spot” just a few hours earlier two
steppin’. Now don’t get it twisted or misconstrue what I’m saying, hypocrisy is
everywhere. There is not one institution on the planet that doesn’t have its
share of it. However, I for one don’t stand for it simply because there are no
perfect people on this planet. We have all done our share of dirt and have had
a fall (or two) from grace. That beingsaid, make it
a point to show compassion wherever and whenever you can. Never underestimate the
power of prayer. It truly changes things. It most certainly moves mountains….
So in
closing, I leave you with one last word of encouragement and motivation from the
Book of Ecclesiastes:
I returned,
and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor
yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all - Ecclesiastes
9:11
That’s it for
my report from the front.
Know that the
war rages on and that I’m in the trenches shoulder to shoulder with you. Don’t be
disillusioned, war truly is hell. There’s no two ways about it. There will be casualties.
There will be loss (sometimes extreme). The thing about warfare is that it
tends to bring out the absolute best and/or the absolute worst in an
individual. It either makes one strong or breaks them down to the point that
they are unrecognizable to anyone that knows or loves them. It usually does
come down to survival of the fittest…. but not in the way that you may think. You
can have the fittest body in the world, knock out a 15 mile march with the best
of them or hit a target at 1000 yards with the greatest of ease. But ask any
soldier where it all starts and they will probably tell you that it begins in
one place….. your mind. If the body is fit but the mind is broken, you are and
never will be any good to anyone….not even yourself. The body cannot live without
the mind. That being said, before you enter any battle or step onto any battlefield ….
still your mind….focus on your objective….formulate a plan …. and do everything
in your power to execute that plan with precision and absolute decisiveness.
Sometimes you only get one shot at your target on the battlefield of life.....
Sometimes you only get one shot at your target on the battlefield of life.....
Make it
count.
