Zion's Bootcamp

     We live in troubling times, when the war between good and evil is growing ever hotter. I have long since begun to think of missions as a sort of boot camp or basic training for this war in which we all either are, or will be, inevitably involved. 

     Here at "camp Zion" the schedule is grueling, and progress can seem slow. We live as we have never lived before, pushing ourselves to greater heights and further lengths than we ever had dreamed possible. On the days when we feel we have nothing more to give, we hear our sergeant's call to "try a little harder" and "do a little better." No experience in my life has ever been more difficult or more strenuous.

     Yet in a very real sense we are protected from the actual battle zone. We have a little book of rules and regulations that builds a protective barrier between us and the outside world. While some see it as a jail fence, most eventually come to recognize it for what it is- a protection against the enemy as we undergo some of the most important training we will ever have in this life. We also come to realize that soon enough we will be called in to battle to fight on the front lines of the war with sin.

     I know there will come a day, sooner than I would like, when I will be back at the home front. I know that once there, I will time and time again look back on the training I received during my 18-moth stay in Zion's Bootcamp, and thank my God for teaching me what I needed to know to survive.

     To those of you already fighting on the home front, don't you quit! Keep going until you have done all you can, even when you are tired. Focus on the most important things and avoid wasting time. When the days get tough, remember who it is that leads our forces. A favorite scripture comes to mind: 

"Dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

     "Cheerfully do all things that lie in our power." How I love those words. Don't give up, and don't give in. Keep up the battle on the home front.