In Great Deeds, Something Abides
Privates Jeffrey Bentley and Wendel B. Taylor would have noticed the silence of the morning. The cacophony of noise that had been abundant in their ears for the past weeks would have faded off with the tepid summer breeze. They would have already been sweating in the early July heat of southern Mississippi, but that would have faded from their minds when the deafening silence encompassed them.
Both of these men were simple foot soldiers, both of them from small farms, both now wearing uniforms stained with the mud and sweat of summer campaigning in the Mississippi delta. The irony of the day would not have been lost upon the two of them. It would have been July 4th, Independence Day, when the silence came. There would have been a wave of different emotions for both men, but surely relief would have been mutual, relief that the hell they were enduring was finally at an end.
The place is Vicksburg, Mississippi; the date is July 4th, 1863; and our young country is in a death struggle to determine the future of a nation whose fate still hangs in the balance. This Civil War had been raging for over two years and would go on for two more, producing over 700,000 deaths in its wake, the equivalent of 7 million in today’s population percentages. The result of the war would bring freedom to thousands and, in the future, to millions. And while this young nation has yet to arrive in the throes of perfection, at least the steps were being made to right the wrongs of history.
Our journey as a nation and as Christians is one of forward and backward movement. We make strides in self-improvement and the uplifting of others, but then we make the same mistakes over and over again. A nation can never reach perfection, just as people can never fully rid themselves of the prevalence of sin. But it is not our failings we should obsess over; instead, it should be a willingness to lean upon our Savior and continue to trudge on towards the prize of our Lord’s will. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
On the 250th anniversary of our Nation’s birth, let us remember that no nation or form of government is perfect; it has its flaws, its sins, and its dark past. But we serve a perfect God, who is willing and able to pick us up and set us free from our mistakes, and then send us down a pathway that leads to glory. Let us never grow weary of putting our true faith in Christ and Christ alone, because only the good Lord holds the keys to the future.
Jeffrey Bentley and Wendel Boyd Taylor didn’t fully understand what had been accomplished that day. They weren’t even wearing the same color uniform. Taylor wore the faded and torn grey of the 37th Alabama Infantry, and Bentley wore the tattered and mud-spattered blue of the 126th Illinois. The silence they experienced marked the end of the Siege of Vicksburg; the Union artillery had ceased firing the moment they learned of the city’s surrender. Both of these men would someday have a great-great-great-great-grandson who would be writing a devotional about them on the eve of the 250th anniversary of our Nation’s birth.
We have not yet finished our race, my friends, even after 250 years, but thanks be to God that the Lord we serve will last far beyond anything we can build with human hands. So let us continue our race onwards towards Christ Jesus.
—
Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield, TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston, TX
Cell: 919-935-2513
Email: pastormike@fumcfairfield.org
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
“Semper Paratus” – Always Ready
