Saturday, August 3, 2002
Saturday, August 3, 2002
And I say, "It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed."
In 1944 during World War II, Admiral Halsey received an intercepted Japanese communication
that revealed the destination of an enemy submarine. The admiral planned to send three
destroyers to try to intercept the sub. An aide begged the Admiral to hold back one of the
destroyers, a boat called The England. The aide recited the dismal record of this particular
destroyer and her crew to the admiral: As soon as she was commissioned, this destroyer
rammed a buoy in San Francisco harbor. On her check-out cruise she destroyed a dock. Her
crew was a joke and she held the record for the worst firing ever seen by this particular aide
on a training exercise report. Additionally, her crew were brawlers, and 6 of them were
currently in the brig for breaking up two bars in Honolulu.
Admiral Halsey laughed, ordered the 6 men released from the brig, and sent the England out.
Twenty-four hours later the England had chased down and sunk her first sub, and something
else happened, too. The men on the England changed. Over the next 11 days the England
sank 5 more Japanese submarines, wiping out all but two of the enemy underwater armada.
Every sub that the England contacted, she sank. Often her sister ships located an enemy
submarine and fired futilely for awhile before the England was given a chance. Usually she
dispatched the enemy on the first try. Even the Japanese assumed that no one ship could
inflict such damage. They shifted their air and naval forces to that sector, assuming that their
subs were being sunk by the main U.S. naval group carrying the invasion forces.
We sometimes make the same mistake in evaluating people that the admiral's aide made in
evaluating the crew of the England. We may discount a person too quickly--failing to see
what he or she can become. That is an especially rash presumption when one considers the
power of a miracle-working God to effect change.
(Psalm 77.10
NRSV)
One of the paradoxes of the Christian life is that God often takes seemingly hopeless
individuals and turns them into superbly useful people! The apostle Paul was once a violent
antagonist of the faith, and John Mark had once deserted his ministry. There is no way to be
sure what a person will be tomorrow simply by looking at what he or she is today.
Dear God, continue to work your miracle in me, as I seek to faithfully serve you. Amen.
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