While our son was in the military, we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to see him in his work environment. But when we did visit his base, we often included his buddies when we went out to eat or hung out as family. These young men were precious to us because of their sacrifice and because they were important to our son.
But I did have trouble telling them apart. I’m not good at putting names to faces, and I quickly discovered that when a group of people are all dressed alike, it makes remembering who’s who even harder.
This wasn’t a major issue, until our son proposed to our precious daughter-in-law. A little over mid-way through his stint in the military they got married. The wedding plans were wonderful—beautiful, but low key. They didn’t want their wedding to be a fussy affair, but one where everyone could relax and celebrate together.
Then I realized a lot of our son’s military buddies would be attending, and I began to get nervous. I prayed for these young men regularly and knew their names, but would I be able to recognize them out of uniform?
Sure enough the wedding day arrived, and as the ceremony began a group of young men filed in together and sat at the back of the church. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Even out of uniform, they were instantly recognizable. The way they walked, with the confident set of their shoulders, identified them as members of our military.
Then it hit me.
As believers, we’re part of an army. We’re soldiers in God’s fighting force. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were instantly recognizable as His? Not by the words we say—those young men didn’t have to utter a word for anyone to know they were Marines.
I wanted to be recognizable on sight as belonging to God. Looking for ways to model that kind of behavior hasn’t always been easy, but it’s changed my life in dramatic ways.
