A Man Called Intrepid: The Incredible True Story of the Master Spy Who Helped Win World War II, by William Stevenson (New York: SkyHorse Publishing, 2014), 645 pages, Kindle Edition.
“I’ll read that when I finish my doctoral studies.” I wish I
had a quarter for every time I made that statement over the last 3 plus years.
Well, this is one of those. I know it has been a while since I posted book
reviews on this site, but I do read and I do find reviews helpful, so if you
share any of those traits, here you go.
I am a fan of historical works, and of military biographies,
and even enjoy a little bit of spy-novel suspense…so this book seemed tailor
made for me.
This seems to be a well-researched, non-fiction, perspective
on WW II from the perspective of the then “new” perspective on the world of
intelligence, counter-intelligence, and guerilla warfare. As a soldier, I
thought I had a good handle on the cost of war and a basic idea of warfare
planning and considerations. Reading this book told me I am clueless on the big
picture. In fact, many places in the book left me feeling like a little child
standing in the library/study of a great leader/statesman, in awe of the
surroundings and sheepishly hoping to learn something from a crouched position
in the corner, too overwhelmed to speak.
The book surveys the advent of intelligence work as an
emerging tactic in war. From steaming open letters, to listening in to radio
traffic, to breaking the German code relied upon by Hitler and his forces
during the war, the author tells the tale of how Allied forces survived and ultimately
achieved victory against a determined enemy.
As a student of leadership, I found myself enthralled with
the burdens of leadership that Churchill and Roosevelt bore in daily duties and
was quite enthralled at the art of people intelligence employed in the shadows
to facilitate ultimate victory.
I find that people with limited knowledge of facts and
specifics have strong opinions of what they would and would not do in a given
situation. A few days into this read is certain to challenge someone to
reconsider all of that.
If this type of book is your “jam,” I highly recommend. It actually has peaked a new curiosity for me as it relates to Churchill, Roosevelt, and World War II.
As the sun rises this morning…it is 2019! What promise the day holds! It is a new day…a new chapter…in a new year.
When I woke up this morning, I was skinnier than when I went to bed…more spiritual…happier…more focused and determined…everything was perfect. No. Wait. That’s not right.
I woke up and was pretty much the same guy that went to bed…only with promise. See, when the sun set on 2018 it set the stage for a new day with new opportunities…a new promise. What a gift of grace!
Lamentations 3:22-23 remind us that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!
Today is a beautiful picture of promise. Promise of new opportunities…and with them, new responsibilities.
One thing I have learned through the years is that life is a journey, not an event. We do not go to bed broken and wake up whole. We don’t fall asleep with bitterness in our hearts and awaken with love. Life is not a microwave. It is more like a crock pot. So, with that said, let me offer three things that I hope empower us and impress on us to make 2019 a memorable year of purpose.
3 Keys to maximizing 2019
Know that God doesn’t waste any experiences, even the difficult ones; rather, He uses them to shape you toward a prescribed outcome. Romans 8:28-30 reminds us of this truth. Your worst failure, rightly dealt with, can be as formative for you and useful for Kingdom purposes…as your greatest triumph.
Tomorrow is the product of choices made yesterday and today. If yesterday, you were a “bear” of a dad…stomping around the house and thundering away at your kids…and today you apologize, repent, and seek forgiveness from God and from them…tomorrow you’ll still not be “dad-of-the-year” (no matter how many new toys you buy them) but you will be a little further along in becoming the person God is shaping you to be. Stated differently, “reinventing yourself” doesn’t mean you suddenly become someone new, but it does mean that you make a choice to change something…and enough changes result in a reinvented you.
The power to make 2019 better/different/amazing is in your hands. You are not a victim of some cosmic, diabolical scheme of fate. You are not stuck where you are. You are, in one sense, at a crossroads. You can go left, right, or straight. (You can even sit still but someone will start honking at you soon). No one will push you through the intersection and no one is going to magically remove the intersection from your life. What YOU do next determines where you will be in the morning. So, don’t fall prey to the idea that you’re stuck. You are not. You are, however, responsible to make a choice today. So…make it; and, when you get to the next intersection in two hours, make another choice and act on it.
Today is a gift. Receive it as such. Do something with it! If you are wise, and if God “works all things together for good,” you will likely see the value is seeking what He desires for you to DO with today…and do that. I pray today meets all of your expectations!
“There’s no way, pastor, that you can convince me that I should be taken advantage of.”
While I “hear” this occasionally, the sentiment resides in the hearts of far more people than actually speak it. NOTHING within us desires to look foolish. Nothing within us desires to have someone walk over us or take advantage of us. After all, where do “they” get the right to do that?
As I have been thinking about this very idea today in my reflections on the Word…I’ll confess that this is an area I have to grow in. After all, I am an American and as an American, I have a right to defend myself, my property, and my dignity. I have the right to fly a flag above the ground of my heart that declares, “Don’t tread on me!
That said, should I draw from the wellspring of my “Americanism,” or from the wellspring of Christ’s Kingdom?
Question: When Jesus said these things, do we think he was being hyperbolic, ironic, or rhetorical? Was He just making a point or do you think He meant for us to take this literally? Listen:
Luke 6:27–30 (NASB95)
27“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
29“Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
30“Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.
Jesus would have made a horrible American! He would! He was so bad at it, that He actually said that this prescribed manner of living He speaks of would lead to a greater reward than protecting ourselves from those who might take advantage of us! Listen again:
Luke 6:31–36 (NASB95)
31“Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.
32“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33“If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34“If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.
35“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
36“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Honestly, this seems like too large of an order many days. Perhaps you’re thinking that right now! What if though, it was possible?
What if Jesus had in mind that He was playing chess while we were playing checkers? What if He was working something for good in the life of a thief or a swindler or a boastful bozo who insisted on trampling your rights?
As I am reflecting on this very truth, I am aware of the poverty of my resources to live consistently as this passage indicates. But then again, isn’t that precisely where God desires for me to be…so that He becomes my supply and grace becomes my heart cry…and obedience becomes my all-encompassing life mission?
Go and do likewise.
As always, if you think I may be missing it and you have a more comfortable conclusion based on the Word of God…I’m all ears.
This is not a ground-breaking article. It is not earth-shattering. It is not a new concept.
Now if you’re still reading, I assume something else is motivating you than the compelling sensationalism of the first line.
Today is election day. I am concerned that the cultural climate may inadvertently cause otherwise good, otherwise godly, otherwise gracious people to create a category of enemies that would otherwise be friends…simply because they cast a ballot differently than you. Here is a newsflash: Jesus was not a registered Democrat. He also was not a registered Republican. He is Lord. That’s bigger than donkey or elephant allegiances.
In recent decades, some have made political affiliation a litmus test of Christian maturity. One popular meme today says no Christian can vote for a democrat party candidate because the party platform advocates abortion. Another says if you support a republican party candidate then you must be a xenophobic nationalist (a person who has an intense dislike for people from other countries and seeks independence of a nation, i.e. an insular people who hate others and want to be left alone), and you must hate people of color.
As the cultural norms continue to divide the people into two camps, each camp gravitates toward identity and allegiance. “I am loyal to my camp because they ‘get’ me,” one might say. Friend, I am an advocate of loyalty; I might merely suggest that you reconsider to whom you choose to be most loyal. If our alliance with King Jesus is of superior importance, then there can be no loyalty that rivals it. All other loyalties must fit completely under a disciple’s loyalty to Jesus.
May I suggest something to you? Perhaps the choices people will make and the rights they will exercise at the polls in America today are more complex than can be explained in a tweet. Perhaps, rather than choosing to step on one side of a line or the other, it would be more helpful to step to the middle and have a conversation. One example may illustrate this truth.
A man I almost completely disagree with on every facet of politics but love as a brother in Christ joined me for a conversation. I asked him how he could publicly support a party platform (which he denied in philosophy but embraced practically) that trumpeted abortion on demand as an inalienable right. He said that he disagreed with that plank of the platform and believed all life to be sacred. He then asked how I could offer wholesale support to a party platform that systemically treated people of color with less dignity than white Americans. I categorically denied the premise. We did not change each other’s minds. What we did was had a series of difficult conversations intending to learn more about one another’s positions. We walked in each other’s shoes (as much as that is possible). I learned that he felt me to be a hypocrite when I spoke of human dignity of the unborn and supported politicians whom he deemed xenophobic. I believed his views were patently inconsistent with a shared ethic of Christian values.
This brother of mine and I have a strained but respectful relationship. It is strained because we are sinful and wrestle with our own human nature. It is respectful because we have an allegiance to King Jesus that compels us to love one another. We recognize that our decision-making process is complex. It is more nuanced than a single issue though single issues rise to the top of our conversations at times. I disagree with many of his premises and he disagrees with many of mine. We think that neither of us truly understands the other. That is ok. We are broken people. We wrestle against the flesh and against the circumstances of our past experiences. We know this…because we took the time to walk in each other’s shoes…at least for a little while…even though it made us very uncomfortable…and still does.
Before you walk away from election night, a night where division sells and divisiveness is on full display…remember there is a higher loyalty deserved and demanded of those who follow King Jesus. Be complex. Love complex people. Seek to understand. Don’t soundbite your brothers and sisters. If you can’t see how to do that, take time to have a cup of coffee…many cups of coffee with your otherwise de facto foe, and walk a little while in his or her shoes.
Sitting in front of his home, he dropped the truth-bomb in the form of a question: “How much golf are you playing these days?” My response, which fit perfectly the nuances of the culture, was simple…” Doc, I’ve got so much going on, I can’t find time to even get to the range.” His response has stuck with me now for more than sixteen years: “Chris, golf is kind of like your quiet time with the Lord…you always have time for what you love.”
Now I am not making a play for more time in the fairways. (Honestly, anyone who has ever played with me knows I have very little experience in the fairways. My game is “Army golf”…. Left, Left, Left, Right, Left). The truth really resonates though…you always have time for what you love most…what is most important.
I remember some time back…a person came to me for spiritual advice. Actually, the previous week’s Sunday message really spoke to the situation, so I asked if the person had been there to hear it. “No, I was doing ____.” By the way, it was a good thing that this person was doing! It seems though that the activity was not the best thing. Honestly, though, that’s the real choice for most of us. It isn’t that we are choosing between helping a little ole lady across the street or robbing a bank. In that case, the choice is clear. More often in life, our choices are between good and best in any given matter.
Let me propose 3 considerations, which are not exhaustive by any measure, that should guide the decision…if we want to experience God’s best in our lives.
First, has God already spoken to the decision? As a pastor, I am admittedly more in-tune with (and biased toward) church attendance than a lot of Christians. Often times I will hear, “My schedule is so busy that the only time to do ____ is on Sunday, so we chose to do _____. Is this a faith issue? Has God already spoken directly to the matter? (See Hebrews 10:23-25 as one example). How do the “one another” passages of Scripture get fulfilled if we are not with one another?
Second, how does this decision directly affect others? Now I know that our default thinking on matters of faith is how does our decision affect us? If I skip church today, will I be less tired, happier, less encouraged, etc? What if, though, we considered our actions from its impact on others. Does my absence help the body? Does my absence free up a needed seat for someone else? Does my absence become a distraction or perhaps keep me out of place, so that I cannot help someone else with a struggle in their lives?
Third, what message does my action communicate to others? When our boys were growing up in the home, we had busy lives like everyone else…but we worked to make sure we were in our place in our assembled church every Sunday. (By the way, this conviction preceded my work in vocational ministry). As such, both of my sons have left the home and for years have faithfully attended and served in their local church bodies. Is that because we took them to church? Not completely, but I think it helped solidify priorities in their minds. Besides, Proverbs 22:6 implies that if we want our children to follow in our/ the Lord’s ways, we must train them up in the way we should go.
I talk with dads often who want to be the spiritual leader in their home. I believe they genuinely want to be the best at it. What I also believe to be true is they ARE the spiritual leader in their home…the only question is where are they leading? If we regularly choose the lake house, or travel ball, or sporting events, or working Sundays, or relaxing by the pool…we lead those who look up to us to believe that there more important things to do than to be connected to the body of Christ. I don’t think that is the intended message…and I am not certain that it is immediately evident that the values are transferred from generation to generation. Eventually, though, it happens. Your son drops church from weekly to monthly to a few times per year at best. He chooses work ahead of other things that you wish he gave higher priority. He passes these new values on to your grandchildren (his children) and you wrestle with why his faith is so shallow. Could it be, as my friend Allan Taylor said to me recently, “Your leadership is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.”
I could go on, but I wonder if the Lord might already have signaled your heart about a change you should consider. If so, know this: God allows (and even encourages) U-turns.
“There’s no way, pastor, that you can convince me that I should be taken advantage of.”
This is not a ground-breaking article. It is not earth-shattering. It is not a new concept.
Sitting in front of his home, he dropped the truth-bomb in the form of a question: “How much golf are you playing these days?” My response, which fit perfectly the nuances of the culture, was simple…” Doc, I’ve got so much going on, I can’t find time to even get to the range.” His response has stuck with me now for more than sixteen years: “Chris, golf is kind of like your quiet time with the Lord…you always have time for what you love.”
Recent Comments