TITLE: A Call To Arms By Taylor Kent 10/31/04 |
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"Wake Up! The Enemy is at the gate. To arms! To arms!" The watchman shouts down from his tower.
Don your armor. Archer's string your bows and gather your arrows. Solders pick up your swords and shields. Man the walls. Barricade the gate. Prepare the charge.
Come on! Can't you hear the trumpet blowing, the alarm bell ringing? The Watchman is calling. The Enemy is at the gate!
The call has come, are you be ready? Do you know where your sword is? Is it sharp and polished, an extension of your body, or is it dirty and dull and awkward in your hands?
Is your shield untended and tarnished, an unruly weight slung on your back, or do you wield it with ferocity, catching flaming arrows, meant for and your companions, on the fly?
Does your armor fit? Have you been forged by the fires of battle or fattened by the comfort and complacency of garrison life?
My brothers and sisters of Riverwood Church, we have been complacent to long. We have been content to sit "hunkered in the bunker" believing that a thirsty world would come to us or that reaching the lost was someone else's "calling"; waiting for someone else to fight the battle assigned to us.
Well, the Enemy's army is marching around the walls of Riverwood church, as well as the other churches in the Cannon Valley, in triumph. The Cannon Valley and Cannon Falls is being overrun by the forces of the enemy.
The Enemy's spies spread lies and false teachings and hate and destruction in our congregation.
The sheep are not feed because the crops have been burned and goats have been loosed in the store house. The lost stay lost because no one is looking for them. The crops stay dead because no one is sowing. The store house stays empty because no one is harvesting.
The King has sent messenger after messenger but they were send home without a hearing. A watchman has been appointed but no one listens to him. Generals have laid out a battle plans but no one executed them.
Now, the battle is on our doorstep.
The call has come. The alarm bell is ringing. The signal fire is lit. The watchman is shouting. "Wake Up! The Enemy is at the gate. To arms! To arms!"
Will you answer the call?
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