“Character cannot be quiet.
Only through experience of trial and suffering
can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared,
ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Kingdom Inheritance:
“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children”
Proverbs 13:22
For most of the 1960’s I served in the United States Submarine Service, first on an fleet boat circa World War II (the U.S.S. Blenny SS 324) and then on a fleet ballistic missile boat (the U.S.S. George Bancroft SSBN 643) a Polaris missile submarine. Submarines by the way are called ‘boats’ not ‘ships’ even though the new ones are bigger than many surface vessels. While serving on the Blenny I made a four month trip to the Mediterranean Sea and had an eye opening experience.
Midway in our tour, our boat was in port in Naples, Italy where I had traded most of my liberty time to other sailors (Naples at the time was a nasty port of call). So I was on board the boat when we received an emergency underway message form SUBLANT (Submarine Atlantic Command). There was less than a third of our normal crew aboard, the rest were on shore liberty.
It seems the then Soviet Union (Russia) had just moved a large number of surface ships into the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, and we were tasked to go have a secretive look-see. Our food supplies were very low at the time, as it was customary to take on fresh supplies just before leaving a port of call.
Off we went for two weeks of playing hide-and-seek with the Soviet navy. By the end of the two weeks we were eating soggy saltine crackers and thinking they weren’t so bad.
This story is interesting in itself but it is not the point of this writing.
When we finally returned to Naples to pick up the remainder of our crew, we were contacted by SUBLANT and given permission, for our service, to seek any port of call in the Mediterranean that would permit us to come in. Our radioman immediately started contacting all kinds of ports throughout the Mediterranean. He made a rather lengthy list of affirmative responses for the crew to choose from. As it turned out, we chose a rather unlikely choice; the town of Castle de Mar de Stabia (Stabia Castle by the Sea).
“A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children”
Proverbs 13:22
For most of the 1960’s I served in the United States Submarine Service, first on an fleet boat circa World War II (the U.S.S. Blenny SS 324) and then on a fleet ballistic missile boat (the U.S.S. George Bancroft SSBN 643) a Polaris missile submarine. Submarines by the way are called ‘boats’ not ‘ships’ even though the new ones are bigger than many surface vessels. While serving on the Blenny I made a four month trip to the Mediterranean Sea and had an eye opening experience.
Midway in our tour, our boat was in port in Naples, Italy where I had traded most of my liberty time to other sailors (Naples at the time was a nasty port of call). So I was on board the boat when we received an emergency underway message form SUBLANT (Submarine Atlantic Command). There was less than a third of our normal crew aboard, the rest were on shore liberty.
It seems the then Soviet Union (Russia) had just moved a large number of surface ships into the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, and we were tasked to go have a secretive look-see. Our food supplies were very low at the time, as it was customary to take on fresh supplies just before leaving a port of call.
Off we went for two weeks of playing hide-and-seek with the Soviet navy. By the end of the two weeks we were eating soggy saltine crackers and thinking they weren’t so bad.
This story is interesting in itself but it is not the point of this writing.
When we finally returned to Naples to pick up the remainder of our crew, we were contacted by SUBLANT and given permission, for our service, to seek any port of call in the Mediterranean that would permit us to come in. Our radioman immediately started contacting all kinds of ports throughout the Mediterranean. He made a rather lengthy list of affirmative responses for the crew to choose from. As it turned out, we chose a rather unlikely choice; the town of Castle de Mar de Stabia (Stabia Castle by the Sea).
When the radioman contacted them they were ecstatic that a U.S. Ship wanted to come in, for they had not had one there since the end of World War II.
We pulled into the port and literally the whole town was on the pier to greet us. Many businesses had closed and schools were dismissed early to allow the children of the town to celebrate the occasion.
We pulled into the port and literally the whole town was on the pier to greet us. Many businesses had closed and schools were dismissed early to allow the children of the town to celebrate the occasion.
We opened our boat for the town’s people to tour it and the people went through for hours. They would go through and then get right back in line to go through again. Many of the children brought fresh cut flowers and gave them to the sailors as they went through the boat. Finally as evening was approaching the line dwindled and we were allowed to go into the town for liberty. The sailors who had been aboard for the special operations were given the first opportunity to go – and we all chose to go over. I walked into town with a good friend and we looked for a restaurant. We finally found one and entered to a warm greeting of the owners and patrons alike. None of us spoke Italian and most of them spoke little or no English; but the smiles and hugs and pats on the shoulder spoke volumes. We ate, until we could eat no more, as the proprietors brought dish after dish of chicken, spaghetti, a few things I knew not of, and a huge tray of Italian pastries for dessert. When we went to pay the bill for our dinner, the owners of the restaurant refused to take our money. Pleasantly surprised and filled to satisfaction, we walked around the small town for a while; then we decided to return to the boat for some much needed sleep.
As we walked down the pier back toward the boat, we noticed a group of elderly men fishing from the side of the pier. It became obvious to us that they were watching the two of us walking toward them. As we walked adjacent to them, they put down their poles and greeted us in Italian. The surrounded us and began patting us on the backs and shoulders.
As we walked down the pier back toward the boat, we noticed a group of elderly men fishing from the side of the pier. It became obvious to us that they were watching the two of us walking toward them. As we walked adjacent to them, they put down their poles and greeted us in Italian. The surrounded us and began patting us on the backs and shoulders.
One of them came right up to me and in broken English he said, “Thank you for liberating me!” He leaned forward and kissed me on both cheeks with tears streaming down his face.
To this day I get tears in my eyes every time I think about this incident.
To this day I get tears in my eyes every time I think about this incident.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that at the time of his liberation I was an infant, but then again it didn’t matter to him - or to me now. It was part of my inheritance as an American; to him I may well have been one of the many U.S. soldiers or sailors he had seen in 1943-44.
In the same way we today have the potential to lay the groundwork for future generations so that they may as Pastor Bill Johnson (Bill Johnson: Follow the Generals) says “use our ceiling as their floor” in the building of God’s kingdom.
Our day by day decisions affect for the good or the bad, the next and several generations to come. We must be determined to sow into the welfare of generations that we may never see.
A great price has been paid by generations past that secure our basic civil liberties that we enjoy today. In the same manner there has gone before us generations of believers who have help to preserve our inheritance in Christ Jesus. Each generation has experienced a cumulative revelation of the Lord. Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle. There will be a generation prior to his return that will walk in the fullness of his inheritance. We have the opportunity to influence that generation. It makes it worthy of our very best efforts in the present, for the Lord. The cost encumbered in the pursuit of this outcome is a price well worth expending.
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In the same way we today have the potential to lay the groundwork for future generations so that they may as Pastor Bill Johnson (Bill Johnson: Follow the Generals) says “use our ceiling as their floor” in the building of God’s kingdom.
Our day by day decisions affect for the good or the bad, the next and several generations to come. We must be determined to sow into the welfare of generations that we may never see.
A great price has been paid by generations past that secure our basic civil liberties that we enjoy today. In the same manner there has gone before us generations of believers who have help to preserve our inheritance in Christ Jesus. Each generation has experienced a cumulative revelation of the Lord. Jesus is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle. There will be a generation prior to his return that will walk in the fullness of his inheritance. We have the opportunity to influence that generation. It makes it worthy of our very best efforts in the present, for the Lord. The cost encumbered in the pursuit of this outcome is a price well worth expending.
30fkj
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