Making Room For One Another

Let me share with you about connecting with one another, making room for one another, making room for our idiosyncrasies, our personalities, and sometimes even our faults. A young army officer was sent to the 48^th Infantry near Frankfurt during the time of the Cold War. In the days that he was in Germany, one of the prize weapons was the 280 mm atomic canon. They were guarded by infantry platoons. On this day, Tom Miller, captain of this particular group assigned a platoon and a young officer to guard one of the 280s. The young officer assembled his men, loaded his 45 caliber pistol, jumped into his jeep and left for his mission. Somehow later in the morning he realized he had lost his 45. You lose a weapon in the Army and it is serious. He was in deep trouble. He had no choice. He had to get on the horn and call Captain Miller and tell him of the loss.

“You what?”

“I’ve misplaced, I’ve lost my 45.”

Later when the young officer returned very uneasily contemplating his fate, the Captain summoned him. Now, he was really on the carpet. He couldn’t imagine the trouble he was in. What would it be? Could it be time in the guard house? Actually, a court marshal could be convened for losing a weapon. Would he get a dishonorable discharge? He told Captain Miller about his carelessness. He looked sternly at that young officer.

“I’ve got something for you.”

He handed the young officer his lost pistol.

“Thank you, sir, where was my pistol?”

“Some kids in the village you went through found it. We heard them fire a shot. We were able to get to them before they got off any more rounds.”

He couldn’t believe it.

“For God’s sake, son, don’t let that happen again.

He drove off. The young officer checked the magazine and found the magazine was full. The gun had not been fired. Later he found he had dropped it in his tent before he ever got started. Captain Miller had fabricated the scene about the kids to give him a real good scare and it worked. Now we don’t know what would happen today if the Army found some young officer that left his pistol lying around somewhere. It’s a serious offense. It’s something that can be dealt with severely.

The point is we should connect with one another and we should bear one another’s burdens because Jesus has chosen to do that with us. When we read the Gospels we see how often the disciples blew it, fell short, let Jesus down, showed little faith, and Jesus still connected with them. He still found reason to disciple them and keep them in the circle. At times they all showed faithlessness. But Jesus kept His relationship with His disciples. His kindness should be a catalyst, a motivation, to reach out to one another in kindness. We must find people with similar interests and connect with them. It is the responsibility for every Christian to build strong relationships with other Christians and pre-Christians.

Captain Miller’s intelligent and kind leadership was not lost on the young officer. He didn’t lose his weapon again. In fact he distinguished himself in his military career. You heard his name over a dozen years ago throughout Desert Storm. He made his name known in every household in America. He developed his leadership skills to such a great degree that when George Bush was elected president he turned to this foolish young lieutenant who left his weapon lying on his bed. He had such confidence in him that he asked Colin Powell to be the Secretary of State of the United States of America.