Calling All War Heroes!

Summertime. It's the hot new thing.

The kids are splashing in the pool, Dad's mowing the lawn, and Mom's whipping up some of Grandma's famous lemonade. As the sun shines overhead, thousands of people, adults and children alike, take a deep breath of sweet, sweet, summertime. The effect is everywhere. People want to be outside. The heat has been hiding from us Ohioans for months. Even the sun itself has been taunting us in Peek-A-Boo. Yet here we are, June has come, and everyone takes a day or two to just relax and enjoy.

What else does summer mean? Kickoff.

Tonight Jacob and I are launching our summer activities here at Sowing Hope! We're so excited to see what God's going to do this summer, and we hope that you can be a part of it! We'll be spending the summer amidst popsicles and kickball sharing the hope and love of Christ with the kids and families in the southside of Wooster. We ask for your prayers and support as we venture into the new and exciting summer of 2010!

I sit here now, writing up small group curriculum for the summer and learning probably more than I ever thought I'd ever need to know about the armor of a first century Roman soldier. We don't use this stuff anymore! Hand-to-hand combat is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Wars aren't won on a open ground battlefield. So what's the point? Some of you may be wondering why in the world I'm researching first century Roman armor to begin with.

This summer, the theme of Sowing Hope Ministries is storing up Treasures in Heaven from Matthew 6:19-21. Small groups will be digging into the gospel message in week one. The next couple weeks will be focused on the title "Who Is Jesus Anyway?" The following weeks will be the Fruit of the Spirit, the Beatitudes, and the Armor of God. And there I land, with descriptions of Roman armor in front of me. How does this armor apply?

We live in a world of war. Day and night we are bombarded with the latest news in the Middle East and the conflicts of other nations. we hear the stories of the terror that rips at the heart of the globe. Protests rock the streets of Washington DC and news reporters whip their tongues at the government for sending our sons, daughters, fathers, sisters, etc into war. Forget whether or not the disagreement or our decision to do something about it is justified. The political onslaught continues. But after all the heated debates and flaming arguments, one question still remains above all: WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

Everything we do has a reason. Everywhere we go, every tiny decision we make has a purpose. Do we live like there is a goal? What are your goals this summer? Where do you want to be in 3 months? Have you even stopped to think about it? Where do you want your family and friends to be?

As we sit in the comfort of our homes, half a world away from the problems of the Middle East, we may easily begin to believe that war is not penetrating the very walls of our ordinary little lives. Wrong. War surrounds us.

Even as I'm driving down the Dix Expressway with my windows rolled down, soaking up the summer sun, jamming along to some of my favorite tunes, the Devil is at work. He wants to destroy the heart and soul of every man, woman, and child. What are we, as believers, going to do about it?

We may not walk around with clanky, awkward, and unbelievably old-fashioned, first century Roman armor. We may not even have such nonsense in a Halloween costume stored in our attic. However, we do have impenetrable protection in the armor of God: Truth, Righteousness, Readiness and Peace, Faith, and Salvation. We were even given a SWORD! We're not just defensive, we're ready for offense too. All these things have been given to us in the person of Jesus Christ. What are we going to do with it?

Armor was made for battle. Christ has prepared us for war. So pick up your Sword and follow out to the battlefield the God who has sacrificed His Son to defeat the Devil once and for all. He has equipped us. Let's go together and fight for the sake of the gospel in the heart of Wooster this summer. We cannnot be held back. We cannot be beaten. So let's march forward together, and sow hope into lost hearts with the message of eternal salvation.

That is a treasure that will last forever. And that is a treasure (and a purpose) worth fighting for.