Yo Joe! For men of my generation, that battle cry takes us back to many afternoons spent watching the adventures of that team of Great American Heroes known as G.I. Joe and then acting them out with our favorite G.I. Joe and Cobra figures and vehicles. Some of my favorite characters were: Snake Eyes (wasn't he everybody's favorite?), Storm Shadow, Airtight, Flint, the Dreadnoks, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, and others too numerous to mention. My best friend and I always wondered about the blueprints that came with every vehicle you bought: If those blueprints were available, why didn't the U.S. military really build those vehicles? Or did they...?
On another of our recent trips to the children's library in Prarie Grove, Aidan ran across the dvd of "G.I. Joe: The Movie". When I read the back of the case, I was immediately transported back to my 7th or 8th grade years when this particular movie was shown as a mini-series during the normal G.I. Joe afternoon time slot. For five straight days, I remember trying to hurry my dad out of his classroom and into his truck so I wouldn't miss that day's installment. The basic plot involves the Joe team having to protect a Broadcast Energy Transmitter machine from the combined forces of Cobra and Cobra-La (a strange underground world inhabited by plant and insect-type creatures.) You find out in the movie that the ruler of Cobra-La is actually responsible for starting the whole Cobra organization to begin with, and his plan is to use the machine to activate spore weapons in space that will turn all the humans on earth into primitive forms of themselves (pretty heavy stuff for an afternoon cartoon), In somewhat of a subplot, there is a group of new G.I. Joe recruits that are going to have to prove themselves on this mission. One of these is Lt. Falcon, a capable but very irresponsible Green Beret. During one important sequence, he brings a date into the Joes' secret prison facility where they have Serpentor, the Cobra Emperor (it was always about snakes with them), held prisoner. The date turns out to be a Cobra spy, and while Lt. Falcon is busy trying to woo a fellow G.I. Joe (a female ninja; he tries to be a ladies' man) instead of watching the security cameras, Cobra forces are able to break in and rescue their emperor. This sets in motion the whole space spores turning people into animals plan.
Because this is one of numerous mistakes that Lt. Falcon has made, he is called before an armed services court to face court-martial. The court decides that Falcon should be court-martialed, and only the intervention of his half-brother Duke, a G.I. Joe Staff Sergeant, saves him from this fate. Duke tells the court that even though Falcon has made mistakes, he still believes he has a great deal of potential. It is then decided that Falcon will be sent to Sgt. Slaughter (a G.I. Joe and WWF wrestler!) for some much-needed training in focus and self-discipline. I won't give away the rest of the movie, but Falcon must learn to put his mistakes behind him and become the leader everyone sees in him so that he can do his part to save the day. At a later point, Duke even allows himself to be injured while protecting Falcon, a circumstance that helps motivate Falcon on his reluctant journey to leadership and action.
Now you might be saying: "Great trip down memory lane, but we've been talking recently out of Titus 1. What does this week's entry have to do with anything?" In Titus 1:8, Paul writes that a bishop must be "a lover of good men". In the Amplified Bible, this Scripture is translated as "a lover of goodness [of good people and good things]. My question this week is: How many of us are investing good things in good people? How many of us see people, even people who've made many mistakes, and thought, "I still see something good in that person. I want to invest in him or her"? Sometimes we may not know the effect our investment may have later on, even on our own lives. In 1 Samuel 26, we are introduced to Abishai, David's nephew, the son of David's half-sister Zeruiah. He and David inflitrate King Saul's camp by night while the king and his army are asleep (this occurs while David is on the run for his life from Saul), and Abishai is ready to kill Saul because he thinks God has delivered Saul into David's hand. However, David knows he must allow God to deal with Saul, so he does not allow Abishai to go through with the assassination. What follows then are numerous times when Abishai fights in David's service, even at one point asking if he can behead a man who is insulting David ( 2 Samuel 16). David again asks him to stay his hand.
In David's later life, he again finds himself facing a giant among the Philistines, this time one with the interesting name of Ishbi-benob. However, this time, David falls faint and who is there to save him and slay the giant? Abishai. And from whom did this gaint-killer learn the bravery and skill to slay a giant? Most likely, David. We read later in 2 Samuel 23 that he was a captain of three among David's might men and that he lifted up his spear against, and slew, three hundred men. Again, this skill and bravery was likely learned by the constant example of David, the slayer of "ten thousands". David took time to invest in Abishai. Despite his shortcomings and desire to sometimes act before thinking, he is not shown to have shared the fate of his brother Joab. Who but God knows what our investment in the life of another may mean in the course of this life? As the old saying goes, "The life you save may be your own." And as the G.I. Joe saying goes, "Now you know some of the imporantance of investing in others. And knowing is half the battle."
Father, thank you for the times I have been able to invest my time, talents, and treasure into the lives of others. Please forgive me for the times I let opportunities to do this slip by. Help us to be about your commission to spread the Gospel and to make disciples. Help us to forgive others' mistakes, to see beyond those mistakes to their potential, and to follow Your Holy Spirit as you lead us in mentoring them. In Your Son's Precious Name I pray, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment