Encourage Your Brothers

I met “Frank” at a Promise Keepers event one September. Noticing that signature haircut, I asked if he was a Marine. “Yes,” he said. As we began to talk, I shared about CRU Military and what we do, and told him that, if he would like to, I could meet with him to do a Bible study. So a couple of weeks later we met near his duty assignment, and we went to see the chaplain for his battalion. The chaplain said that it was fine for us to meet and that he would even join us when he could, and he did.

As we spent time together on Wednesday’s, Frank shared about some of his current challenges with his leadership. He was a Staff Sergeant and was being singled out for his faith by one of his superiors. It was really hard on him. As we studied the book of James we spoke of many things dealing with the challenges of life. A First Sergeant in another company also attended fairly regularly as well as a Captain when he could break away. But sometimes when it was just Frank and I, he would pour his heart out. Those times seemed like a divinely orchestrated appointment just for Frank and me.

About six months after we started meeting, Frank got his orders to rejoin a RECON team and become a team leader in that unit. I have kept in touch with him by sending him our prayer letter and recently he sent me this note.

“I am moved to hear of how God is using you two in the Marine Corps Family. We are almost all tired, and worn down low by the work we do. Without Christ I surely would not succeed, so I know that the light God is shining through you is truly impacting the success of the Marine Corps as a whole, and the security of our Nation. That’s big.

 

Doug, I reflect on our times together, and it gives me so much faith, because in a time where I was very low, God provided me a personal minister to guide me, build me up, and love on me. It got me through, and right now those lessons learned from that difficult valley are paying off dividends. I’m a team leader with the Force Recon Platoon ___. I have battles all the time, with coworkers to leadership, but God is seeing me through each and every time when I trust in Him. I don’t like what I’m going through, it’s hard work, long hours, without much reward, but I know that God’s word never comes back void so I am believing that He has put me here to simply speak the Truth, in the name of Jesus.

 

Your little brother in the Lord, Frank”

 

The power of encouragement! Are you investing your time and your life in that which will have eternal value… the souls of people like Frank?

 by Doug Barron