by Keith Bassham
I had two close brushes with military life. Just after I graduated high school, I was living in Dallas, having been “lured” there by a couple of friends who shortly returned to the land of their nativity leaving me somewhat alone and vulnerable to a recruiter.
The recruiter said that with my faith and interest in spiritual things it would be a relatively easy thing to join up in the infantry and then perhaps migrate to a path that would lead to the chaplaincy. That claim was less than candid I am to understand. My test scores looked good, though, and the recruiter was probably running short on his quota. I was about one signature and an oath away from a hitch in the army when I informed my pastor that I was joining.
“No, you are not.”
“No?” I asked.
“No. You are going to your apartment this afternoon, pack up, and move to Springfield and enroll at BBC.”
That is how a possibly brilliant military career was ended before it began. My second brush came during my first year at BBC. A friend from school and I thought it was a good idea. Back then I had lots of good ideas. My Sunday school teacher reminded me that another Authority had a prior claim on my life. The next day I returned the bus ticket the recruiter had given me and told him the same. He said he could not argue with God.
I have never been tempted to join since. But when I am around those in uniform, I experience a little of the longing regret King Henry spoke of in the St. Crispin’s Day speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V. Not that I am ashamed I never wore the uniform, nor do I think of myself as a shirker. I suppose it is more a bit of envy.
Anyway, I have always led the cheers for military chaplains. And prison chaplains, and hospital chaplains, and hospice chaplains, and industrial chaplains. These are the smaller worlds within the larger world into which we are called. Missionaries are missionaries, both when their people can be represented by national flags and anthems and when they are identified by vocations or locations.
Enjoy this month’s Global Partners with the spotlight on our BBFI-endorsed military chaplains.
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The BBFI Executive Committee (the nationally elected officers) interviewed candidates for the Tribune position the first week in August. Their decision will be placed before the Fellowship during the September meeting, and my successor should be in place before my departure at the end of December.
The expanded position will be challenging to say the least, and proper funding will be essential to the future success of communication within the Fellowship. And any transition, whether it be personal as mine will be, or organizationally as the Tribune’s will be, can be difficult. With God’s aid and the help of Fellowship friends, I am confident we can meet the challenges ahead.