"A Promotion To Problems"

During my second enlistment in the Marines I was attached to a firing battery of the 11^th Marines Artillery Regiment…My tenure there lasted about one week. Headquarters discovered that I was NCO within the regiment who was also a school trained wireman. So I was summoned to the Regimental Com Officer and promoted to Regimental Wire Chief… While this was a very important position which kept me in constant contact with high ranking superior officers and fellow non-coms, mistakes at that level were not tolerated.

A regiment is made up of four battalions which consist of about 300 individuals; so as you can imagine, my responsibility was very enormous… Upon being sent up to Headquarters Battery I was taken on a tour of the entire area to examine the wire lines that made up our “Emergency Telecommunication System”. To my utter amazement the wires were running in every direction, there was no uniformity at all and this created a huge problem. Lines were so low that when trucks came through the area there was always the possibility of them being torn down, and because they were running in so many different directions, troubleshooting was grossly problematic.  

We were expected to repair in one month what had been constantly messed over in a matter of years. There was a lot of strategic planning, a need for lots of material and equipment. Each battalion would have to assign 4 men daily to the project, not to mention the late nights and no weekends off, even during inclimate weather the work went on … However; (to quote Gen. Douglas MacArthur) “with the help of God and a few Marines…” the job was completed, but not without a plethora of problems that I hadn’t anticipated on facing.

It’s no different in the life of the believer; living for Christ, while it is an awesome blessing and privilege, it’s not without problems. Scripture teaches us;

“…all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”. (2^nd Timothy 3:12)

No promotion or elevation comes easily, it requires diligence, hard work, and struggles along the way. If life was easy then we’d never be tested, our spirit-man would weaken daily and we would be useless to the Kingdom of God.

We’ll suffer heartache and disappointment along the journey. God knows what awaits us down the road of life because He’s responsible for ordering our steps. I’m reminded of the evening that I arrived at basic training… there were three drill instructors yelling in our ear; “Move it, stand on the yellow footprints!” Those yellow footprints kept our feet in a perfect 45 degree angle… So what am I saying? Since God has already ordered your steps, just stay in the footprints that He’s laid down before you; because when the dust clears from all of your problems… you will have walked into victory over them to yet another promotion.