Ephesians 6:13-17

Put on the whole armor of God! Every piece of it. Don't leave any aside or you will be vulnerable to the enemy. Every soldier knows that each piece of equipment is meaningful for battle. Each piece serves a purpose and without each the soldier is incomplete.

I was thinking about this as I walked around Kandahar this morning. It is easy to do when you are in a NATO base surounded be soldiers and equipment from around the world. I thought about the differences in each countries equipment, in each soldiers camo and gear. I also thought of how some countries soldiers are not as well equipped as others. The United States by far has the most well equipped of them all. But some just have the basics. The bare minimum for what they need to go out and fight.

I wondered about Ephesians, and if I put on the full Armor of God each day. If I was prepared for the battle at hand or if I was just being complacient and putting on only what I needed at the time. See here, in Afghanistan, depending on where you are and what you are doing that determines your level of preparedness. In Kandahar, weapons have no clips in them. In Shindand everyone is loaded and carried at all times. Some bases are under constatnt fire and others are not and this deternmines the level of readiness. So where do I stand?

As I pondered this I realized that I too in my walk only prepare to the level of threat in which a precieve will be there. In the world, I only wear my Battle Raddle when I travel of open territory or when the Camp threat level changes. Do I always wear my Breast Plate of Righteousness? No, sometimes I leave it in the corner as with my Kevlar Vest. Sometimes I only think of my own needs and do things that are selfish and unrighteous.

The helmets that they give us here make me look like a mushroom head. I have a big head to start with and add the XL Green helmet and look out. Again, I don't put this on unless I have to. I don't use my head I guess! But the Helmet of Salvation, fits me differently, but none the less, how many times do I forget to wear it. How often do I not rest in the assurance of Gods Salvation through Jesus Christ. Often I forget that I am saved from this world, that death has no grip on me. How many times do I just fear the things of man, of men walking in death. They can't touch me Spiritually however I fear them, not my Lord, and not walk in His Salvation. I leave the Helmet next to my Kevlar.

Oh and how easy it is here in Kandahar not to trust others. To fear that something will go wrong. Many times you are placed in a position to check and double check with others until you know that something has been done. How about our Shield of Faith? How many times do we not fully allow ourselves to be assured of our Faith in Him. When have we prayed for our Faith to be strengthened because we know we have let it slide a bit? Faith is being assured of the what you can not see. Assured! Are we always assured of this. Do we always carry our Shields with us or does it get too heavey so we put it down abit or leave it aside altogether? In history, when a Soldier gave up in battle and ran, he would drop his shield first for it was heavy and only used in defense. If we are to face or days, we must have shield in hand.

I have a bad waist and I wear nmy pants too low because of my belly. It has always been the case. Therefore my belt is necessary. For the Soldiers here their belts carry necessities for battle, their wepons and ammo. They are again necessary for them. Ephesians speaks of the Belt of Truth. What Truth? Gods truth, the truth of the Gospel. Place the truth of the Gospel around you waist. Tie it tight and it will carry all the necessary equipment you need. Use the truth as you walk to lighten the load. Trust the truth to always be with you, close. Do you ever forget to speak the truth? I do, I have those moments when I could have spoken Gods word to another but I didn't. I just didn't think it was the right time. I might as well let my pants fall down.

My boots are wore out and dusty. They have not held up like they should have. The soldiers all have nice boots, expensive but nice. I noticed also now that they don't all wear the same boots. Each soldier can choose the ones that are best for them. Is this not how we view piece also? Each uses their own stabndard and comfort level to determine their peace. We place our own ideas of what that is until somebody does something to upset us. God wants us to be peace makers. To use His standards, from the Gospel to bring about peace around us. He wants us to Love each other so that we will not hate and have disruptions and kaos, unsettledness and peacelessness (don't know if that is a word, but it works). We must wear the sandels of the Gospel of Peace. We must all have the same boots on and not let them get worn out and dusty. They must be made fresh daily.

Finally to the weapon, I have none, no gun nothing to protect myself here. I have thought about this often, what would I do if confronted with death at the hand of another. My heart is not fully set on not fighting back as a Christian (this is another subject) but I wondered, as in a war zone you do, what would I do? For us as Christians, in Spiritual battle, we have Gods Word as our sword. We have the ultimate weapon to use against the enemy. It must be sharp and light, not burdonsome to carry, but why do I even leave it aside at times. I go out without the Word of God in my heart. I put my sword down when I am not threatened like some Soldiers not have clips in their weopons, We are not threatened so we are not armed.

I spoke to my father last night about how you get used to things around here. Rocket attacks, as we had another last night, people just continue to walk around like nothing. We had a mortor the other day at Shindand and it only made me stop for a second as I walked to the DFAC. I thought, on a daily basis, in one form or another, someone is actually trying to kill me. Maybe not personally but certainly by shooting in my direction. If this were anywhere else I would run to the authorities, do what I had to do to protect myself, but here it is what happens. Is't that in a way the same thing that we do as Christians?

We just allow ourselves to become used to certain things. Like me here, we only duck if we think we are in danger. As Christians we don't prepare fully with the Armor of God, we only put on what we need to at the time. Be it what is comfortable for the day ahead. If it is hot well maybe I will leave the helmet off or not carry the shield. We dress only in the equipment that we feel is necessary. No wonder so many of us, including me, have so many up and down days.

Here people get killed because the don't follow instructions. they get killed because they get complacient. They get killed because they don't wear the PPE that was given thenm when they need it, I am guilty of this also. For Christians we can't walk in His assurance because we are unproteced when we go out. We put ourselves at risk and then wonder why we got attacked and wounded form it. We look up at God and pray for His help, but we don't wear the Armor that He has given us. We go to the battle field but we remain unprepared for battle.

Follow the instructions of God. Begin to everyday to place the Full Aromr fo God on before you begin your day. Don't chose what you will wear and what you will leave in the corner. And remeber, if you chose not to be prepared, and not to trian yourself to rely on the weapons and armor you have, don't blame God for the beating you will take. He has prepared each of us, He continues to strengthen you so we may be stronger. He has fully equpped you, now stand in the battle prepared.