Not sure I'd heard of
Gary Lamb before last night, but I'm glad I was at
The Six to see and hear Gary bring it ... all the way from
Georgia.
And Georgia being all of and exactly what Georgia is
,* that takes a lot of bringin'.
More times than I'd like to admit, sometimes I'm still thinking about the message during the drive back from church, and completely blow past my exit. Is that a big deal? Well, missing my exit means KEEP ON GOING .... all the way to dreaded
Georgia (of course) ... before I can turn back around toward civilization.
What I was thinking about last night is this: I was reared (for any folks in Georgia with computers, that means
Growed up) in a time when churches were, if not exactly private social clubs, something like charitable clubs ... say, community organizations akin to Moose and Elk Lodges.
In other words you had to get a voted-on approval from the congregation to join up, become a member, and get inside. Some extreme, long-standing churches jealousy guarded their doors and traditions, like a fort or vaulted armory ... except that some churches' spiritual weapons had been kept locked-away for centuries ... and no one seemed to care if their muskets still fired.
Or wondered if their ammunition was all wet from being crated and stacked in storage for so long. Or noticed satellite communications had replaced code words and flag signals. Or realized that technology had brought new weapons like
M-16s and
M249s on the scene, the pastors insisting instead that traditional muskets were sufficient to engage an enemy armed with
AK-47s and
RPGs.
Or that like the British during the Revolutionary War, churches still insisted on marching into combat to traditional drum and fiffe music, adorned in their required red jackets n' ties ... easily-spotted uniforms that made convenient targets for patriot sharpshooters dressed in everyday civilian clothes.
Hmmm ... any surprise here that the average church in America today has fewer than 70 members, baptizes a new member once every 3.5 years ... and somehow still never notices or wonders too much why combat losses are catastrophic?Might seem to some church officers like our Operational Commander lives too far away to notice the
numbers highlighted in field reports, but does any one really think the General is pleased by such dismal performance?
Gary's one of those crazy preacher dudes who didn't graduate from Annapolis or West Point, but who still had the courage to recognize it was time to change tactics, and
Advance by Attacking. Instead of by retreating in holy huddles behind steeples and stained glass fortresses.
Gary preaches like a Lamb ... if Lambs wore combat boots and carried bandoleers of concussion grenades.
---
The war's still the same; it's the nature of warfare that's changed. Modern warfare no longer consists of military hymns, strictly regimented musket volleys and long-distance cannon exchanges. Combat's gone intensely urban and hi-tech, requiring
Radically new strategies (and uniforms) for engaging and
overwhelming the enemy.
How do you overwhelm the enemy? By using every weapon and technological advantage available ... and
out-numbering his forces in the field doesn't hurt, either.
* My four grandparents all hailed from Georgia, and that makes me a genuine bon-a-fide Cracker from way back. That's why I walk like a flat-footed farmer plowing cotton, and am proud to admit it.
