The Devotional – 1422 – Comrada

The Devotional – 1422 – Comrada

Proverbs 14:27 – The fear (reverence, or respect) of the LORD is a fountain of life, to avoid the snares of death.

 

 Comments and challenges

Twenty-nine years have passed since I walked off the gang plank of my last tour of duty on a submarine and it is twenty-seven years ago that I retired from the Navy. Honestly the time that has elapsed is like another life time in that it is not easy these days to recall the days of Navy life. Just this morning while checking the Groton Naval Base information site (for driving and weather conditions, I caught a glimpse of what appears to be a 688 class submarine, the type I was on before I retired.

 

My thoughts drifted back to moments and events; but it was not an easy drift as I found myself wading through other moments that did not fit. Moments like people I remembered who were on other boats I was on, or events that happened on other ships that were not even submarines. A 688 class submarine was a very unique vessel in the day, but today submarines are different. So I decided that because I am no longer qualified in applying a story to the right ship that it may be better if I just stop retelling the events of the past and stick to current things.

 

All said, this does not mean that I do not meet or talk with other retired submarine sailors of the past, there are several of these ole salts in our church and when we do talk there is a certain and close comrada, I like that word “comrada” as it means “chamber mate, a friend or close companion”. There is no other definition to define the men of a submarine and in thinking about this; it really matters little if the stories told overlap one another, hmmm!

 

When the world (unsaved people) look at the children of God they do not understand that we are “chamber mates, friends and close companions. Or that we even exceed the word of comrada; since we are spiritually and eternally bound together as brothers and sisters of Christ Jesus our LORD. 1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

If you are not a submarine sailor, you can never know the blood and tears we have shed over one another and if you do not know Jesus Christ as the sacrificial LAMB of God who “has” removed the sin of the world through His Death and Resurrection then you cannot know the Blood and the Tears He personally shed for you. Now it is impossible for all of us to be submarine sailors, but with God “all things are possible” you can be a child of God, Matthew 19:23-26.

John 1:29 – The next day John (the baptizer) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “BEHOLD!” (LOOK) The Lamb of God who takes away the SIN of the WORLD (unsaved people) Jesus Saves and I remember a barn of times gone by, the white on black shingles that read, “JESUS SAVES”.

Romans 10:9-10 – That if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. And again, I remember the days on submarines when men would come to me and we would share personal words that often led to the gospel of Jesus Christ and in many cases also led these men to a personal relationship with the LORD Jesus. Even so; “Come LORD Jesus” Revelation 22:20-21.