We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know they are  sons and daughters of the Father said … AMEN!!!

Dear Ma & Pa,
Am well. Hope you are. Tell brother Walt & brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt & Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.
Men got to shave but it is not so bad, they git warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings. Like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc…, but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie, and other regular food. But tell Walt & Elmer you can always sit between two city boys that live on coffee.
Their food, plus yours, holds you till noon, when you get fed again. It’s no wonder these city boys can’t walk much. We go on “route” marches, which the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A “route march” is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys gets sore feet and we all ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat.
They don’t bother you none. This next will kill Walt & Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don’t know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk and don’t move. And it ain’t shooting at you, like the Higgett boys. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don’t even load your own cartridges.
Be sure to tell Walt & Elmer to hurry & join before other fellers get into this setup & come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter, Gail[1]

It is kind of a matter of perspective, here you have John and James, they have been in the presence of the Lord for three years now, they really don’t appreciate what they have, they seem to think that it’s just straight up ok to go to God the Son: “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” I mean wow, right up front pretty obnoxious!? It’s as if they weren’t even listening. Didn’t Jesus just tell them what would happen to Him? I’m going to be turned over to be killed, that’s bad, but then I will rise, that’s great! What’s their response? Hey we want you to do this for us Jesus. Gail appreciates where she’s been, even in Marine Corps boot camp. She thinks her new life is just terrific. James and John, they seem to forget where they’ve been, they seem to think they’re entitled to an upgrade in life. Yea, I know we’ve all been there, we all want better. But too often it’s our idea of “better” and we just ignore God’s idea.

John and James, like the rest of the disciples, frankly, like too many of us, still have not gotten the idea, it’s not about them and what they get, it’s about what God has for our lives. As it says in your bulletin: “Our old, sinful selves still sometimes want Jesus to be like a genie in a bottle who will give us three wishes rather than a Lord and Savior who has forgiven our sins.” It really comes down to this; as Christians who are in charge of our lives, who do we serve? Is it all about me? Or is it all about our brothers and sisters in Jesus and ultimately/most importantly about Jesus? About Him who sacrificed and suffered everything in order to serve us? He really does serve us, He gave us our relationship with the Father, He fulfills our hope of life – life eternal, we know all those in the world who are without hope, we have the promise, we know we don’t have to jump through hoops to have what we hope for. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Eph 2:8). Sola Gratia, grace alone that is given to us because of what Jesus did for us. We couldn’t do anything to earn that if we wanted to. What could we possibly add to what Jesus did for us? We are baptized in the Name of the Triune God. Jesus saved us and He gives us the grace, the faith to know that we’ve been saved. All this is done for us, through nothing that we’ve done. Paul goes on in Eph 2:9 “not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The motto of my first undergraduate college was “…not to be served, but to serve..”, This is an old public college, in liberal Massachusetts, I didn’t know what that motto was about when I went there and I’d bet pretty much no one else, student, teacher, staff knew where it was from. Jesus promised to serve us, He did and He continues to.

Private Gail, she’s serving, she’s in the Marines, while she serves, she appreciates how much that she has, how good life is. In the world we serve Satan/old man Minch. We may not see it, but he is cruel, merciless and at some point he will drop the hammer on those who are not in Jesus. This might be a little weird, but the Marines, being kind of like Jesus? May seem hard, but to us who have lived in the world and know the harshness of the world, Jesus tells us: “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:30) Let’s appreciate what Jesus has done, let’s hear what He has to say and not just push through with our agenda. The world/old man Minch, will only serve us at a price and it’s a pay me now and pay me later. With Jesus He lived, died, served, for John and James, all for we who are His and for all eternity.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amin and Shalom