History Worth Repeating

I have been having this feeling.

A calling.

A prompting.

An urge that tells me it’s time to give ourselves and our country a kick in the butt. An encouraging kick, to be clear.

Not the way our world views it now, as an antiquated and negative notion.

Just a good motivational and encouraging “go accomplish something” kick in the butt.

There are plenty of people out there who are already dialed in. The type that puts the work in with the bigger picture in mind and excels because of it.

I have been trying to weave this message into my daily life, my wife and kids lives, as well as the lives of my team at work.

Working towards the greater good.

It’s not a new concept, but each of our circumstances are unique, so the way this plays out for each of us looks different.

Recently, I was able to tour the USS Alabama, a decommissioned warship in Mobile, Alabama.


There were three different tour routes mapped throughout the ship which did an excellent job of giving you a peek into what it would have been like to live on these ships during World War II. The best way to describe the ship would be to call it a floating city. It had everything. A machine shop, parts bay, communications, weapons management and staging, doctor’s and dentist’s quarters, to just name a few things. The list was extensive.

Just touring the ship creates an immense amount of pride and accomplishment for what our country was able to do. They banded together for a greater cause. They engineered and built a fleet of warships then operated and used them to successfully execute many missions.


This becomes even more impressive when you look at some of the numbers. To the average reader, work and teamwork on this scale might even begin to feel unfathomable, yet this was common and expected at the time of its creation.

There were 2500 men on that ship, each needing 3 meals a day that came out to at least 3 to 4 thousand calories per man to make sure that they remained in the shape required to carry out their tasks. These men were all hard at work, each given their own specific task, becoming experts so that the entire body would function as designed. This worked, resulting in each man finding his greater purpose in how he contributed to the whole.

So, where was God in all this?

With that many men you better believe that they had multiple church services on every Sunday. They often set up service on the deck of the ship. Knowing that their lives could be in jeopardy at any moment, I can guarantee you that they all knew of God at minimum whether or not they actively participated. And I’m guessing that many more of them may have talked to God when under attack. I’m willing to bet a great deal of them were praying regularly, that prayer and mindset becoming a consistent outward action that will forever be engrained as a part of our history.

These men were moved to adopt this mindset as the world around them came under fire by an evil greater than anything they had ever seen. 

We find ourselves no less surrounded by enemies today. Spiritually, physically, maybe not as immediately obvious, but just as dangerous.

I have been having this feeling.

That God has been calling us to come together once again.

Just as Jesus’ disciples once did. Just as the soldiers on that ship once did.

I have a confident hope that what God has said will come to pass. 

That we will be ready to step onto that ship once more.

Ephesians 4.15 – 16