Today's Devotional

December 1, 2004

Subject:  Survival, Evasion, Resistance And Escape

Matthew 5:39 - "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."

Most all branches of the military have Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training.  It's intended to teach personnel who may be taken as a prisoner of war, how to do all of those things, i.e. survive, evade, resist and escape the enemy.  Recently my friend Adam, the Marine helicopter pilot, attended the training and he related the story below which I shall detail in a couple of brief statements.

After the students are captured, they are put through various levels of torture, harassment and interrogation.  The school is great because before you get there, they look deep into your personal background and history to use those things against you as a prisoner of war.  While they were interrogating Adam, it was evident that they knew about his Christian lifestyle and continually made reference to "his God" being able to save him and let him know which side of the face he was going to be hit on next.  They also said that he could "tell your God to make the pain go away."  In classic bible style though here's what Adam did.  As they taunted him with giving in to all of that, Adam looked at them and after receiving a striking blow to one side of the face then turned to have the other side hit.  Is that bible living or what?

How many times in our lives do we actually get a chance to live out the bible literally?  The answer is... "every day" if we take the opportunity to do so.  Adam was placed in a harsh environment which allowed him that blessed opportunity and we have all been placed in a harsh environment whether we know it or not.  It can be our homes, school, work and even at church sometimes.  In all situations, we have an opportunity to live out the Christ life.  

Today we are all in SERE training.  The enemy has looked deep into our background and knows our history.  Will we be captured by the enemy and if we are taken as his prisoner, will we remain true to our service as soldiers in His army or will we give in?  Today practice survival, evasion, resistance and escape from the enemy, because nobody wants to be a prisoner in this war.

 Carlen