A Life Lesson From Barney Fife

I am so grateful to the Baptist Courier for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you concerning our son’s deployment to Iraq. When approached about this possibility, my mind drifted back to an old episode of the “Andy Griffith Show.” In this particular show Deputy Barney Fife had the bright idea of rehabilitating Otis, the town drunk. He was trying to involve Otis in some sort of craft project. Andy came in and asked why he had Otis doing that craft. Barney stated that it would be ther-i-pedic. Well that was the wrong word but right concept. It’s very helpful to stay busy and do something meaningful. I’ve found that during the course of the last 42 days, my fears and concerns have been countered by our prayers, the prayers of fellow believers and the promises of a loving heavenly Father. As a matter of fact, the Bible reminds more times than the number of days our son will be in Iraq that we are not to fear. To read the promises of God and receive the encouragement of Christian friends is ther-i-pedic.

I still struggle with the issue of watching the news or not. It seems that most of the reports I hear coming out of Iraq are negative. It’s very easy to be pulled into a state of despair by some reporter who seems to delight in making news instead of reporting the news. Over the weekend I gave in to the urge to read some online news stories and found myself reading an article about how the President of Iran had called for intensified violence against American troops with the hopes of influencing the November elections in the U.S. The phase “feeling low” doesn’t adequately describe what we were experiencing. But God is good! We received a phone call from our oldest son. He had just gotten a call from our Marine and he was well. As a matter of fact they had a very successful week in diminishing the power of a particular terrorist cell in their area. There’s that still small voice again that said, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I know the plans I have for you and they are to prosper you and not harm you.”

On and on I could go, but the encouragement of our network of Christian family and friends and our Sovereign God has a way of rehabilitating our fallen spirits better than Barney could rehabilitate Otis!

Semper Fi!