A morning walk in the rain

I got up early this morning and decided to go for a walk. (I "borrowed" the idea from Law & Gospel.) LTSG is on Seminary Ridge, but at the corner, it turns into Confederate Avenue. If you're familiar with Gettysburg, (the battle or the movie) Confederate Avenue is now the point from which Pickett's Charge was launched on the third day of the battle. It is also the site of many of the monuments to the Confederate troops who served and died here. I travelled the route a week or so ago with my parents in a car tour of the battlefield, but until talking to L&G, I didn't realize how close they were.

I set out at 7 a.m. to see how far I could get by 8. I took my Bible and Devotions book with me , because I figured, you're sitting on one of the most historically inspiring areas of ground in the country, you may as well use it. I made it the mile and a quarter to the Virginia monument in 45 minutes (good time for an out of shape OLine coach with a bad knee I think) and found a rock upon which to sit and read the lessons and devotions for today.

The devotion for today in my FCA Coach's Bible includes these passages from 1 John (3:11-17).

For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Sitting just yards from this monument to the man who ordered that fateful charge, and to the men who marched to their slaughter and having read that passage just stunned me. The Civil War was a battle between brothers. The farmer-soldiers from Virginia, Tennessee and the rest of the Confederate states laid down their lives for their cause, right or wrong. But the folly and the fault of this battle lies with their leaders, Lee and Longstreet. I am by no means a Civil War expert, but I feel comfortable in saying Longstreet knew the charge to be doomed from the start. And still ordered it.

The burden of leadership is being responsible for and to those you lead. Too often, our leaders today are either short sighted, self absorbed or resolute in their correctness that they let down the individuals who are trusting them. You can take your pick of who you think I'm referring to. It could be the CEO of a company who bankrupts the pension fund. It could be a political leader who is more concerned with getting his next job than doing his current job. It could be a religious leader declaring that mine is the only way to salvation. It could be the president determined to continue a war that everyone knows has gone far too long.

I pray that upon the completion of my time here, that if I am graced by God to be called to lead a church, that I remember that the people who trust me to lead need me to have their best interests in the forefront of my mind. I will add to my daily prayers for our leaders to do the same.