Comraderie

Comraderie is one of those words that can mean different things to different groups of people - usually it brings to mind people who like to hang out together. On board submarines this connotation does not come even close. Some of us did like to hang out together; some of us hated each other - tremendously; some of us ignored each other, and some of us . . . Well let's just say there were those who really could have been aliens. But two things were certain about all of us - we shared a common goal which was to ensure our mission was successful and we would die for each other if the need arose. 5th graders do not grasp this concept very easily. They are wrapped up in video games and who is the boyfriend/girlfriend of so an so - kind of humorous actually. Jesus had these twelve guys who swore allegiance to him. They said they would hang with him through the valley of death if needed. These were some awesome dudes. They would build the church and lay the foundations for the Christian faith. Yet, when it came time to stand up and be counted, they scattered like so much mist on the wind. I think about that and what that might have looked like on a submarine and know that it could never have worked. The captain expected and deserved his crews devotion to duty and to his fellow shipmates. In a way the very fact that we were captives on that boat when it was greater than 400 feet down made it impossible to do otherwise. Jesus did not have this luxury; his crew abandoned him during his greatest need. But he NEVER abandoned them. He restored them, encouraged them, and pushed them to greater achievements. 5th graders understand this and respond to it; so do Christians - we depend on each other for it; the Bible tells us to encourage each other and that we can have no greater love than to lay our lives down for a friend. That's comraderie.