Weekly Devotion

By Jim Wilson - Morning Show Host

KCBI General Manager Mike Tirone has graciously invited me to share with you this week. I am Jim Wilson, KCBI’s Morning Show Host.

January 30, 2012

A Few Good Men

Late in the evening of January 13, the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Italy. As the death toll rises, the captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, continues to change his story about what really happened. What has been confirmed is that Schettino was one of the first people off of the ship. When ordered by the Italian Coast Guard to return on board to oversee the evacuation, he refused and stayed in his lifeboat, stating, "Do you realize it’s dark out here and we can't see anything?" Over 4,000 people were able to escape, but at least 15 died in this tragedy. I wonder if those 15 people would still be alive today if the captain had done everything in his power to make sure everyone had evacuated before he saved himself.

Nine days later, Joe Paterno, a legendary coach at Penn State University, lost his battle with lung cancer. That came just two months after he was fired because of a scandal that rocked the university. Paterno himself said he should have done more to ensure that the alleged abuse of at least 15 boys was stopped and that the abuser was arrested. I can't imagine living with that kind of guilt; knowing that the lives of young boys have been forever changed. It makes me wonder if Paterno lost his will to live – especially knowing that he could have and should have done more to protect those children. Maybe it wasn’t lung cancer that killed him. Maybe it was a broken heart.

Then, there's the story of another man, William B.Travis. He was the 26-year-old commander who was in charge of the Alamo in 1836 when, for 13 days, he and about 200 men fought against General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his Mexican army of more than 4,000 soldiers to save it. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over. All except one did. The defenders were willing to give their lives to preserve Texas.

I'd like to think that I would have stepped over the line that day to defend the Alamo and would not have been the one who stood still. I’d also like to think that I would have made sure that a possible child-abuser was arrested. Would I have been the last one off of the Costa Concordia? I would hope so, but I just don’t know. The same condition that plagues those men is the same one that I inherited from Adam when he witnessed Eve disobey God. Yet he never said a word.

What is it inside us that causes us to freeze? What causes us to hesitate when our lives and the lives of others are truly on the line? That, of course, is simple – it’s our desire to save ourselves. It's our selfishness. If there is one thing that has been proven over and over again throughout my life, it's this – I know how to save myself. That is just one of the many flaws in my character that needs an extreme makeover. The only One able to do that is the One who did cross that line to fight for my freedom and die on the cross of Calvary. Jesus set the example for me when He embraced the little children and protected them. He was the One who made sure that I was rescued off my sinking ship and made it safely into a lifeboat.

On my own, I can’t pull those things off. But with God's help, the example of the Lord Jesus Christ and with the power of the Holy Spirit living within me, I WILL be one of the few good men who will answer the call to real manhood and do everything in my power to protect and defend my family and friends.

John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

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