casual thoughts and reflections upon life and the Creator whose idea it was in the first place

Sunday, July 17, 2005

It's official!

After 688 days - the longest training session on record(!) the POWs have served their time and have been released. We've made it and we're off to Stratford.

1 Comments:

Blogger nick said...

The deception of Commissioning!

For a couple of reasons Commissioning reminded me of similarly ‘life-shaping events’ such as exams, driving tests and getting married. While it was a day that was much anticipated and a day certainly not without excitement, nerves or emotion it was also a day that flattered to deceive.

There was excitement at the culmination of a process of preparation that was unprecedented in length (the 644 days of training represents the longest training session in SA history!) – which at times felt like it would never end! Nerves jangled as friends and family gathered to join the celebration, and emotions ran all over the place as each individual approached this momentous day in their own way. So why, you may ask the deception?

Firstly as with exams, driving tests or getting married the significance of Commissioning undoubtedly lies largely in what went before: God’s prompting and preparation.

Secondly as with exams, driving tests or getting married while Commissioning marks the end of ‘training’ it ushers in an even steeper learning-curve: that of Officership and day-to-day ministry.

In the words of Winston Churchill, Commissioning ‘is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’ Indeed, having recently been blessed with a beautiful son and faced with the daunting prospect of parenthood I am only too aware that life is an endless education. As Major Jean Bradbury once said ‘we are all in the process of becoming’.

Commissioned, ordained and sent out I may be, but I certainly haven’t ‘made it’. Far from being ‘deceived by Commissioning,’ along with the apostle Paul ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me’ (Philippians 3:12), confident that the God who calls, equips.

9:20 AM

 

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