From the Pastor’s Pen – By Brian Horrobin
During the early stages of the Vietnam War, U.S. Air Force pilot, Howard Rutledge, was shot down and made a prisoner until the war’s conclusion.
During his arduous stay in the prison camp known to the incarcerated Americans as “Heartbreak”, he had much time to reflect on his life.
For years his wife, Phyllis, had urged him to join her and the children at church each Sunday, and each Sunday he declined.
He was always too busy or too preoccupied with other pursuits that seemed to be more important to him.
But the dreadful conditions of the prison camp greatly altered his perspective on life.
In his book, “In the Presence of Mine Enemies”, he writes this: “Now the sights and sounds and smells of death were all around me. My hunger for spiritual food soon outdid my hunger for a steak. Now I wanted to know about that part of me that will never die. Now I wanted to talk about God and Christ and the church. I had completely neglected the spiritual dimension of my life. It took prison to show me how empty my life is without God.”
Deep in the bowels of that horrible Vietnamese prison camp Howard Rutledge got a rude wake-up call about the misplaced priorities of his life.
A successful air force pilot to others betrayed the disharmony and frailty of an unordered private world.
Can you identify with Howard Rutledge?
Are you living life in the fast lane, all the while disregarding the importance of cultivating a healthy spiritual life?
Maybe it’s time to step back and take a look at where you are placing your priorities.
Does the pursuit of pleasure override your devotion to your family?
Do you make time for God in your busy life?
Is what you are doing now going to matter 20 years from now?
Don’t wait until you get shot down in the prime of life and face a prison sentence of regret before you realize that your priorities are in the wrong place.
