Check Your Ammo

In part of my 3 years in the US Navy Air Corps during WWll, I was a top turret gunner on a torpedo bomber. I was no danger to the enemy but I did almost shoot down one of our own nearby planes accidentally and almost cause the death of its 3 man crew. Although entirely unintentional, had I succeeded I would have no doubt spent many years in prison. Memory of the incident pops up ocassionally and even 65 years later it still causes me some distress. I will tell you it was a matter of 1/32 of an inch between incarceration and my life since then. I am firmly convinced that God was involved in the outcome ; there is no other possible explanation.



Those bombers were relatively slow; so slow in flight that birds sometimes rested on the wings. Actually, not so; it just seemed that way. When I was not flying, my other duties involved my training as an aircraft mechanic. I worked on 1700 horsepower radial air-cooled engines. I am mechanically inept around car engines, BUT if they ever start putting 1700 hp air cooled engines in cars I'll be ready.

In my first story above, I was operating with the mistaken belief that there were no more bullets left in my machine gun. Over the target range I had pulled the trigger in bursts until the weapon quit firing. On the way back to base I swung the turret around, pointed my weapon at planes in our formation and pulled the trigger. The closest plane was about 50 feet away. When we got back to base and I got out of the turret and removed the can of spent shell casings I looked up and saw to my horror that there were still 5 fifty caliber live bullets hanging in the belt. I scrambled back up into the turret, opened the lid to the firing chamber and could see that the mechanism that pulled bullets into the chamber had scratched the next bullet in an attempt to pull it into firing position. If that bullet had been somehow moved 1/32 of an inch more it would have fired and carried the next 4 with it.

Operating with insufficient, mistaken, false or unverified beliefs is as dangerous to our spiritual lives as was my similar dangerous actions with live bullets. It is up to each of us individually to do the study required to build on solid scriptural ground; to seek, recognize, listen to and abide by, the teachings of the Holy Spirit delivered through whatever source He may choose.

My second story illustrates that if we are going to stay prepared, we cannot stand still in our learning. To live the abundant life Christ promised us it is not enough to sit on our salvation. My knowledge of the 1700 hp radial engine is useless to me now and it did not prepare me for dealing with the complexities of modern car engines. Too many Christians say to themselves, "I know all I need to know." They stop growing and then resist the gentle prodding of the Spirit to move on to greater and greater joys in Jesus.

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A little boy asked his mother, "Mommy, where do people come from?"
Thinking the boy was too young for the birds and bees story she said, "Well, the Bible says we come from dust and we return to dust.'
That seemed to satisfy him and he went to his room to play.
A short time later he came back to his mother and said, "Mommy, I looked under my bed and someone is either coming or going."