For us men

     Below is an excerpt from Designed for Joy: How the Gospel Impacts Men and Women, Identity and Practice. I was very struck by this passage and thought it was worth sharing. 

     "My (Grant’s) dad, Charles Kelly Castleberry Jr., was a Marine Corps fighter pilot and a Christian. One night my dad’s squadron took a “mandatory” trip to a beach house somewhere along the Atlantic Coast. No wives or children were allowed to come. This was a special night in which many of the young pilots would receive their “call signs.” Shortly after my father arrived at the beach house, he realised why family members were not invited. Someone had invited strippers as entertainment for the evening. Later that night, when he confided this event to my mom, she asked him how he responded. He said that he had stayed in the corner of the beach house with his hand over his eyes.

     A few months later, my father was killed in a midair collision over the Atlantic Ocean. After my father’s crash, a pilot in the squadron gave my mom a picture that someone had taken inside the beach house that night. He told my mom that deep down “everyone respected Kelly for it, but no one had the guts to follow him.” Sure enough, in the photo was my father in the corner, hand covering his eyes. When I was a young boy, my mom showed me that picture and explained the integrity and courage my dad had displayed in that moment – integrity and courage that had characterised his life in Christ. Mom framed the picture and put it in my room as a constant reminder of his legacy.

     When the squadron cleaned out my dad’s locker after the accident, they found taped up inside his locker Paul’s last will and testament to a young pastor-in-training:

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Tim. 4:6-8)

     My dad covered his eyes at the beach house because they were fixed on his Saviour. This focus isn’t easy. As Paul said, it’s a fight of faith. It’s a fight for purity. But it’s worth it. Christ is the purity we can count on. Keeping our eyes on him is worth it because he is the only one who can truly satisfy our souls. “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14)." (pp. 116-117)

     The fight for purity takes guts, it takes courage – I don’t want to be a coward. In the gospel of Christ, I don’t have to be a coward.