SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010

THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

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Dear Friends in Our Lord Jesus:

In the years before the United States entered the Second World War, President Franklin Roosevelt convened an extraordinary meeting of his top military advisors. The major topic of the meeting was what to do about German submarines patrolling the North Atlantic.

By 1940, the German Wolfpack was causing tremendous problems for cargo ships carrying supplies for the Allied forces in Europe. Hundreds of supply ships were intercepted by Nazi submarines and torpedoed as they attempted to break through the Nazi stranglehold around what many were calling "Fortress Europe." It was a perplexing problem. Finally, after several hours of discussion, one admiral -- frustrated at the lack of available naval options -- caustically suggested a bizarre strategy: "Heat the Atlantic Ocean to boiling. Then all the submarines will have to surface, and we can destroy them one-by-one." Asked how he planned to heat the ocean, the admiral replied: "I gave you the idea. Now it's up to you to furnish the details."

President Roosevelt referred to this meeting on several occasions following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 -- the event that brought this nation into the war. According to Roosevelt, an idea is completely useless if the details are impossible to complete.

As Christians, we have been given a simple idea by our Lord: To introduce Him to as many people as we can, sharing His message of hope, forgiveness, and salvation. And we have also been given the only details we will ever need to accomplish this mission: To let Him do all the work through us. You see, God will work through us to reach others, if we let Him. As the old saying goes: Without God, we can't. Without us, God won't.

-- The Very Rev. Dr. Steve Sellers +