Our platoon Sergeant was screaming at the top of his lungs. Chaos seemed to exist as each of us tried to scramble and find a bunk to call our home for the next 12 weeks. I could see the horror on many faces, but my experience at Parris Island, some 4 years before, made this look like a cake walk. I was soon to learn that while the approach to training an officer was slightly different, the physical demands would be longer and harder than I could have imagined. Looking across the squad bay the men did not look much different, but one tall fellow on the opposite side seemed different. I learned quickly that he was. I also learned that he had found a way to love others, the rest of us could not have conceived of at this point in our lives.
Within days I learned that Richard had been in the Marine Corps almost 10 years and made the trip to Viet Nam twice. On one of those tours, he and part of his platoon were held up in a foxhole with enemy fire coming from multiple directions. During the heat of the battle an enemy grenade landed in the foxhole. Without hesitation he pushed his comrades away from the grenade as he jumped on top of it, shielding them. The grenade fizzled and did not explode. Yet, in that moment Richard displayed agape love for the men he served with. He was willing to leave a wife and children behind in order to save his friends’ lives. I marveled then and still do now at that kind of mindset. (John 15:13) While I do not know what I would have done, I wonder if the fear would have made me scramble rather than thinking that self-sacrificially. Richard was awarded the Navy Cross for bravery.
While we can look back and see quite plainly a defining moment of love in Richard’s life, I wonder how adept we are at identifying agape love in normal day-to-day life. It’s easy to see people who do things in a big way — and those people are important. We need them. However, you must also consider the unsung heroes who have a more focused and narrower scope in their approach to agape love. Hebrews 11 is a perfect example of initially highlighting the big time Spiritual Heroes, but the last few verses of the chapter talk about the others who hold equal status before Our Father who are nameless. Are we looking at them? Are we trying to find a way to bless them, as opportunity presents?
Those individuals have discovered the secret of Matthew 6:1, 3–4. Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. . . . But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. When you find someone like this, they are worth emulating as they have the peace and secret of the kingdom. Have you thought about how you can display the agape love inside of you? There is a way to share it quietly.
Love, Dad