When I was in high school, my youth group would go on choir tour every summer.
We all had matching outfits, and we sang and had choreography. It was a big
production with lights, a stage and trucks.
We performed in churches,
inner city parks, juvenile halls, we even got to perform at Disneyland and
Catalina island. One of the coolest crowds we sang for was the marines in San
Diego. Before 9/11, we got to go to the marine bases and sing for the new
marines in their chapels and even out in the fields. My favorite was this giant
auditorium at the marine corps recruitment depot. It was full of thousands of
marines, all shouting and hoo-rah-ing.
At the end of every concert, my
youth pastor gave a short talk to the crowd. He had a special one for the
marines that always got them fired up. We always did two performances for the
marines, my youth pastor would do one of the talks and the intern would do the
other one.
As years went by, it was finally my turn to be the intern. As
the choir tour got closer, I looked forward to the thought of speaking to those
marines. I bought my first book for a sermon. It was a short history of the
marines. I learned all about them. Their history is fascinating. On the night of
the concert, my youth pastor came to me and asked, "are you ready?" I was
ready. I had my notes my bible and I was prayed up.
After the songs I
addressed this crowd of thousands of guys. It felt strangely comfortable to be
with them. I talked about the marine motto: semper fidelis. Latin for always
faithful. These guys were amped and shouting. I talked about the many legendary
marines that I learned about in my book, and they knew them all. Then I talked
about what semper fi means. It means that you are willing to travel to distant
shores and to leave your blood there; that you live for others, and that you
never quit until the job is done. It means that you never leave your friends
dead or wounded on the battlefield. I have never, ever seen a crowd that big,
that riled up. They were standing, shouting, jumping and hooting. And then I hit
them with my point: Jesus is always faithful. He never leaves us. He died for
us, He never quits.
After my talk I said, "we sang songs for you, and
now we want to hear YOUR song!" Those thousands of marines stood at attention
and shouted, "FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA TO THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI..." They
shouted out the marine anthem. The force of their voices almost knocked me over
and the sound was deafening.
That was the first time I ever walked off
of a platform and thought, "wow. that went over!" It will always be one of my
craziest memories.
After my talk, my youth pastor invited me to give the
second talk too. The marine chaplain asked me if he could get a copy of my
sermon! And I really started to believe that someday I could give more talks.
Lots more talks, lots more people.
Jesus is semper fi. And He has been
always faithful to me for all these years. Hoo-rah!
God is love.
-rev-rob
