Brotherhood

A few months back I sent out a request to some of those that we mutually share the title brother. This is one response. I am still forming my philosophy of brotherhood. Eventually it will be a book. 

For those with affiliations, I mean no disrespect. I have spent my life looking for brotherhood. I have looked for it in street gangs, crews, cliques, and military. This side of the cross I have looked for it in the church, and ministry.

I have been let down every time by every organization. I accept the human element, it is our flaw, our greatest weakness, and our greatest strength. 

There is an old saying, "no man is an island". The truth is we were created for community; we need each other. But, I have learned that brotherhood is more than a name, more than a patch and it runs much deeper than ink. It's more than what we ride.

In my culture there is a saying, "don't bro me if you don't know me"; and one more, "I am my brothers keeper". 

I have those that call me brother; I hope they know the depth and width of that' title. The honor and debt; the oath that it entails 

There are a few I call brother. 

I have brothers that were born to me; we are blood. 

I have brothers that are sworn to me; we are vets. 

I have brothers that have ridden the same roads as I have, though it was at different times and places. I try to never use the term lightly, though I have committed that infraction, and I hope or strive that it is never easily said. 

It's more than a patch; it's more than ink. It's more than what we ride or preach. It has to be mutual; it is a courtship of blood, sweat, and tears in the deepest sense. 

It's easy to die for someone you love; but it's harder to live for them. To live for them is to accept their flaws, their human element. 

To call me brother is to ask for my accountability; to accept my brotherhood is to hold me accountable. 

Brotherhood is to stand back to back, and kill them all; and it's to be the uncle to the family of a brother that has gone on. It is to stand in the gap.  

It is the oath of a knight to guard him and his family when he is wounded until he can stand. To slap him when he is being an idiot and love him when he is down. It's an oath that can not be broken; in truth it cannot be understood to those that are not. It's dysfunctional and aggravating; it can be stretched, pulled tight, and tied in a knot, falsified and screwed up, but a true brotherhood, like a strand of three chords cannot be broken. 

Brothers can sit in silence for hours and just know being there is everything though no word is said.

The worst pit of hell is to see a brotherhood die.

Brotherhood is one phone call and knowing your family is safe even though your states, countries away. It's knowing your brother has given his only weapon to your wife and knowing he sleeps on your threshold until you are home.  It's tossing your last mag and pulling your bayonet because for you his back is more than your own, and if only one goes home it will be him.

We cover each other's shortcomings; our six, our 9 and 3. The phrase, "I got your six" is a blood oath, though no cut is drawn. 

It's drilling that discipline till it hurts and then drilling more.

It's having the same perspective regardless of past.

Brotherhood is to be of the same body.

It is clarity of vision and action; mission and purpose.

In so many ways it can't be described, it is just known informally until it is made formal.

Brotherhood by definition is exclusive but not discriminatory.

 So many use the term brother and yet so few understand its width and depth.

My line is drawn at my brothers back and his at mine and there we stand.

 After thinking  this over for a few days I have come to my self-definition of this thing called "brotherhood" ....

Brotherhood - it started for me about day p-2 in boot camp... When I wasn't so good at spit shining my boots, my battle buddy "bunk mate" helped me to square myself away for my first personal inspection the next day...

While still in boot camp on the drill team, I stayed after to help my squad member learn the drill routine that we had to perform for pass and review only two days later and missed chow that night and evening muster... Hence "PT TILL I SWEAT RECRUIT"...

Fast forward, when I got to my first duty station and my father had a terrible accident at work, and I had my fireteam leader cover my duty status for a week so I could get home...

While in a war zone, (a stupid analogy), I was out of Copenhagen snuff, my teammate hands me his last can from home... war zone... There are way too many small examples to even begin to define... Simply put, the guy next to me will not stay in this f'ing country!!!

In the middle of engaging, my team brother yells out, "out of ammo," and I throw my last full clip to him...

Looking back, those so simple things in life taught me sooo much about about what it meant to be a brother!

Understanding my thoughts are scattered, I will fast forward to current events...

Recently, family things have arisen, as a member of a club, NO ONE from said club CONTACTED me to offer help.... Another individual from another organization made a point to inquire to ensure all was secure! THAT IS BROTHERHOOD! It does not matter your affiliation, when a vet looks at vet in the eye and says, "I got you," it means more than any civilian will ever comprehend! You know that brother has got your back through any and ALL means necessary!

Another instance, another true vet brother called to check on me and my family when things were not so well and great...

The most simple thing in life is knowing that you have those few guys you can count on, no matter the time of day, no matter the circumstance, no matter what it takes to cover down for "That Brother"!!

So many say BROTHER, yet so FEW understand the true meaning!

Brotherhood wish

Oh, that the church could understand the concept of brotherhood to that same extent that it is understood by the veteran and the biker. 

The Veteran understands brotherhood because of the blood shed and spilt standing the line, armor on as Paul warned the Ephesians to do. To stand at the ready before the onslaught without fear of the battle, on the way. To stand during the fight as the Devil's arrows fly, without wavering, and to finally stand guard after the battle is won--standing guard over the wounded and weary, standing in the gap as they are nursed back to health ready for the next command. A veteran shares with his fellow brothers the scars of war those that are seen and those that cannot. the victories of battle and the loss of those that have fell.

If the Church could just know brotherhood as the biker does: The brotherhood of the endless mile, of the road less traveled, the narrow road. The road over the mountain top experiences of worship and through the valley of Vision, of loneliness, and despair; but always side by side through times good and bad, brothers carrying each other on as the One Road Captain guides. brothers that share the scars of the road and the love of a life many don't understand or comprehend.

Only when the Church remembers this true understanding of brotherhood will it return to the strength of Character and influence that it once was and should be.

Only when the Church understands brotherhood will the country be turned around and be back on track.

Monster

“Sometimes the world no longer needs a hero. They need a monster” ( Dracula Untold). Or maybe that is a pc, liberal, globalist lie. They, the liberals, who from this point on will be referred to as the zombies, hate the military. They are the ones who want the universal soldier, you remember the Van Damme movie. The soldier that can kick every ass then be put in cold storage till needed. They preach utopia, but want automatons to enforce it. Utopia, true utopia, doesn't need enforcing. Thats why it cannot exist in this world. They want their military to enforce their insane world view and then be able to call them monsters because they are automatons without feeling or emotion, and easily blamed because they are contained until needed again. They can run their propaganda machine and still run the universal soldier as needed. This is not what the founding fathers saw as our future. Any attempt at utopia ends up a dystopia. We are on the verge of this now. More laws have been broken by this POTUS, and I hesitate to even capitalize the acronym at this point, at risk of showing respect for a tyrant and traitor. I respect the office but have no respect for the man. At best he is a Muslim sympathizer globalist who thinks he will be granted power when the caliphate is complete. At worse he is a Muslim who is waging a political, and cultural jihad. America needs to wake up but before Lady Liberty can wake up, the American church must wake up first. It was the Church and the Holy Spirit that sparked the Revolution, and it is the Holy Spirit that will awaken the Bride of Christ and spark the second one. My opinion.

Southern Heritage

I was not born in the South nor was I "raised" in it. I do, however, have a Southern heritage. My family came to Virginia when it was still a colony. We helped found it; we helped defend it; and we rebelled against British tyranny and helped Virginia and the rest of the colonies gain their independence. I was raised in Iowa with good conservative midwest values. Through my years I have been around the world and have ended up back in Virginia. I consider myself in many ways a rebel son come home. Since I have returned to the south of my family heritage, I have learned the nuances of southern philosophy, southern theology, and southern culture. I love grits (always have) but I'm still not a fan of sweet tea, though it's ok in small doses. Almost everything about the South and its culture and heritage I love. I do not like nor do I condone chattel slavery, never have, never will. 

The recent events in Charleston were tragic, gravely tragic. The facts as I understand them are a white kid messed up on suboxone who liked to burn the American flag and wear patches associated with apartheid South Africa, happened to have a picture on his Facebook account waving the Northern Virginia Army's Battle Flag. As usual the attention-craving liberal media grabbed onto this and started the perfect storm. Now several States have succumbed to the PC whore goddess and have taken down that battle flag from over their capitals. Amazon has banned the sale of that battle flag, sacrificing the profits they could make on its sale on the altar of political correctness. It's America; for the most part we are still free, though not as free as we were when I was growing up. 

Men that I respect, Franklin Graham for one, have called for us to put this flag in the closet for the sake of unity and peace. Men I love and respect and consider mentors, who have been my professors, have posted similar articles saying the same thing. I respect their views, and continue to respect and love them as theologians and mentors. I wonder however, what the cost is and should be for unity and peace? The church in America specifically has sacrificed much for the sake of unity, to the point in many cases of it becoming a graven image with a bloody altar.  We, meaning the church have sacrificed our God-given obligation and privilege to serve the poor and those in need to the government for the sake of "unity". We have given our right to free speech as pastors to speak against the evils of political opponents of the Gospel during elections. True Christianity is NOT bipartisan. True Christianity stands for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness within the confines of a biblical morality as our forefathers understood it. True Christianity is above politics, but it should also drive the politics of the Church. 

Should the flag be set aside? I don't know, but I do know setting aside any flag will not end a violence that is a heart problem. I also know that setting aside any flag will put us one more step closer to a loss of our First Amendment rights. Any step closer to our loss of the First Amendment rights puts us one step closer to us losing our right to wave the Christian flag, the Gadsden flag, the American flag. After the flags, what will they come for next: our Bibles? Our right to worship? All for the sake of Unity and Peace?  I myself have never flown the battle flag but feel an overwhelming desire to have it tattooed on my arm, not because I am a racist, not because it's heritage, but because it is quickly becoming a the symbol it was originally meant to be once again: a symbol of standing against tyranny. Whether the details were right or not, i.e., Slavery is a concern, but does that detail (as tragic as it was) overshadow the big picture of the loss of states' rights that was the result of the South's loss in that war? I don't know if the flag should be set aside or not, but I do not think it should be set aside over a contrived media frenzy propagated by the media meat puppets of the present administration which have used the same flag when it suited them and now want to put it away when it is no longer convenient for them. As the church we are not called by God to be in unity or at peace with the world. We are called to stand against it, because a world without God is a world at war with Him. I don't wave the battle flag, I don't even own a battle flag, but I have already lost to many of my rights and I am not willing to give up any more of them. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims in Charleston. It was a tragedy that should have never happened but it's a heart problem (there is a lot of evidence that says it is also a psychotropic prescription problem) not a flag problem, not a gun problem, not a white or a black problem. A very big and very tragic heart problem.

Brotherhood

Been listening to a lot of ffdp lately. Doesn't really fit my designated social status as pastor, but there is something to be said about biker culture and church. There is a lot that can be learned. In my life, in my culture bother is a title earned. In the church, everyone uses the title as if it's generic. But, Brother is earned, it's not store bought, it's not the same as Mr. Mrs. Or even Sir. It is select, so understand we may be kin, in Christ, but you have to earn the title of Brother in my eyes. Just my two cents. There will be more to come on brotherhood.

Sheepdog vs the wolf in each of us

The reason a sheepdog is good at what he does is because the wild animal of his ancestry is not completely bred out of him. He remembers the wolf and knows how he acts and thinks. What separates him from the wolf is that he has sworn an oath to protect and defend the sheep and if possible wake them up by sounding the alarm before he draws the line and says none shall pass.