Encouragement

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A Friend Indeed
© 2009

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Colonel Eric Casserly was very tired. He was so tired that he felt like finding the nearest cot and going to sleep for about a week. For nine straight weeks, the Colonel’s schedule was fast paced and relentless. In the middle of all of these activities, the Colonel was faced with one tragedic situation or event after another: three of his soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber during a day time patrol; his oldest daughter’s marriage was reportedly breaking down; his next door neighbor’s house was completely destroyed by wild fires in central Oklahoma. Colonel Casserly had begun to feel like Job himself.

After Sunday morning church services, the chaplain recognized the strain on the Colonel’s face. The chaplain walked up to the Colonel and put his hand on his shoulder. The Colonel knew that he had something to say.

The chaplain was a long time minister who had been working with military personnel since his entry into the military during the Vietnam War in 1971. Before the Army, the chaplain pastured a medium size church; worked with adolescent boys and girls in the inner city of Tulsa, Oklahoma; ran a food kitchen for the homeless. Colonel Casserly considered the chaplain’s time and experiences a valuable asset to him and his military subordinate units across his Division of more than 10,000 personnel. He also considered the chaplain’s honesty, wisdom, and judgment just as valuable as well. He had learned to listen to him.

“Eric,” the chaplain began on that day, “I want to talk to you about something that happened to me when I was in my second year of college. I was in excellent physical condition and a pretty good football player. I’d play well during the first half of the football games but when the second half came around, I couldn’t do anything right. I dropped passes. I’d fumbled the ball away. Or I’d run the wrong pass route two or three time a game. One day after out team lost by only two points, the coach pulled me aside and said just a few works to me. But what he said totally changed my life and how I see the world ‘I’ve figured out why you commit so many mistakes during the stages of football games. You get stressed and tired. Everyone else is just as stressed as you are.’

“Now Eric, you haven’t said anything but I can tell that you’re pretty tired. In fact, I’d say very tired and worn out. Just remember this. This is not the moment to give in. Also remember that others have gone through what you’re going, and they don’t lose the race. And they were just as tired and stressed as you are. Stay with it and keep up the fight. You’ll see light at the end of the tunnel soon, real soon!”

Every living person at some point in time need to pause and rest, but there are other times when one needs to tighten up and march on. And at times the encouragement of a friend, sent by God, can make all of the difference in the winning or losing of a difficult race.

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