Keeping the Watch

 John Caudill April 27 at 9:49am  Some 13 years ago, about this time of year, I was serving in Nineveh Province, Iraq. I was the Tactical Satellite Radio Operator and the .50 caliber gunner on the Company Commanders gun truck. Our unit was a special project stood up to combat border smugglers and interdict enemy movement via air insertion by Blackhawk helicopters. I was under the command of then Col. H.R. McMaster. He is a General now, and as far as military leaders go, the man was a towering monument, a giant, who stood head and shoulders above any others. He was a true warrior, but also, a gifted intellectual. Lawrence of Arabia, the strategies and correspondences of Rommel, and more to the point here, the Book of Jonah was part of the reading list that he shared with some of us. I learned then, that this particular area of Iraq, was the same Nineveh where Jonah stewed in his anger toward both the idolatry, and the instant repentance of the Assyrians long ago. This was the same city where the Akkadian moon goddess 'Sin' was worshiped in eons past, where the Yazidi Kurds still worship the 'Shining Ones’, patrons of the chimeric peacock God Melek, one of Enoch's fabled Watchers. The memories of the endless hours of guard duty all run together, but the enemy is everywhere when you are everyone's enemy, so we kept the watch, every night. The idea is to do this without fail, as our very lives depended on it. But one such night, the watchman failed, complacence swept over him, and he was lulled into a tired and peaceful slumber and for the rest of the night from his watch on, there was no sentry. The entire patrol, twenty or so heavily armed men, all lie defenseless and fast asleep, under the ancient stars of Nineveh. A wise friend of mine once told me, fairly recently, that, 'Christianity isn't disintegrating, its problem is that things are going good, and because of this we have grown complacent. We no longer keep the watch.' Complacency kills was the motto in the theater of war, and it’s no different here for us now. I remember waking up the next morning, to the sound of hooves and tinkling bells. It was a strange feeling to wake up rested in a combat zone. But we had all slept in, and by the time we started to stir the heat of the day was almost upon us. It was then that we realized that at some point during the night, the watchman had failed, and that in the darkness, we had become surrounded. By a flock of sheep! An entire flock of healthy, beautiful and well cared for sheep. And each one had a little tinkling bell tied around it neck., so the shepherd could easily find them. While we slept, we had been discovered this lonely wandering Shepherd, who out of compassion, had pitched his tent among us. When we all awoke, we thanked him, and he offered us bread and tea, which we took, and soon after he picked up his camp and went on his way, following the flock as it freely grazed. He had taken it upon himself, out of Goodness, and out Love for the fellow sojourner, maybe somewhat out of the desire for protection from smugglers, but either way, directly or indirectly, he cared for the spirits of the men that were within the sleeping beasts. He and his flock, had taken up the watch... And so it is with Christ, our Shepherd, and High Priest, our Savior and Deliverer. Except this Shepherd needs no protection, but I will say that He does desire a relationship. He desires that each of us would know Him. But like the shepherd in the story, when the night falls, He, the True Shepherd is there. When the enemy surrounds you, it is He who has surrounded you first. He seeks after us, every last one, and the Good Shepherd is not complacent, He keeps His flock without failure. So friends, beloved, turn to Him, and follow Him. Seek after Him, as He seeks after you, take up your rest in Him, and He will come to dwell with you, so that when you fail, it will be Him, His strength, His love! His compassion! And not our own... It is He who will keep the watch over the flock, forevermore, unto life eternal. All Glory to the Father, and to his Son Jesus Christ, and to The Holy Spirit, who dwells among us, who's hands hold us, and through His eyes we, the blind are made to finally see, Amen.