Friday 2 October 2009

David's Heroes

We all saw Kelly's Heroes in the late 60's that made movie stars out of Donald Sutherland and Kelly Savallas with their wacky portrayal of soldiers hunting gold rather than glory with the eventual shoot out between a youthful Clint Eastwood and a German Pantzer tank!
But there are a few heroes whose names are not even important that became David's greatest heroes in his army. He had men who killed giants just like he did when he slew Goliath and then he had men who fought until the sword cleaved to their hand, but the greatest three were of a special kind.
One day David simply sighed in remembrance of the water from the well of Bethlehem where he grew up as a boy. He longed for a drink from that well. But Bethelehem had fallen into the hands of the Philistines and there was no way that he could get hold of that water.
But three of his soldiers heard the expression of his desire and decided to risk their lives to fetch that water for their leader. They set off and fought their way through the garrison of the enemy and fetched a pale of water for David.
When they brought the water to him, David was astonished at their act of bravery.
'I can't drink this water1' he exclaimed and explained why he said that: 'this water is the blood of these men!' Then he poured the water he so much desired out on the ground as a drink offering before the Lord his God.
What a lesson of servanthood. This act of theirs got them promoted above all the other great warriors to be called the greates three of them all. What qualified them? They were not commanded to risk their lives, they were not even sent: they simply heard the heart of their leader and decided to fulfil his wish.
Reinhardt Bonnke the German Evangelist that has shaken Africa once said that Jesus's desire is souls and therefore he will go he does not need to be commanded to win souls for Jesus.
I am a sent one to other lands and I often go because I hear the desire of the Lord that said, Go into the all the world and preach the Gospel and make disciples.

About a month ago we had our monthly Band of Brothers meeting in our church and I simply mentioned: 'wouldn't it be great to have my life long friend Mike Wood and his wife Mary at our summit this year?' Nobody said anything. An hour after the meeting I got a phone call from one of the men that informed me that they had decided to bring Mike and Mary all the way from Australia and pay for their tickets!
It made my eyes shoot full of tears.

Mike had been one of my mentors throughout my life and I owe a lot to him. I am in no position to pay his air ticket, let alone his wife's. But the Band of Brothers clubbed together and raised the funds to purchase the air tickets.

We have just returned from the summit where many of my friends from other parts of the world attended; Graham from Birmingham, Jako from Houston, Duncan and Bev from Sowerby Bridge and Alaster and Simba from Zimbabwe, besides all my friends in church and from Johannesburg and Pretoria. What a glorious time we had in the presence of God - we even went on for an extra day! Words cannot describe what we experienced - and it was all because of a few guys who heard my heart's desire and acted on it on their own expense to bring it to pass! They are heroes of Harvester, this Band of borthers! God bless them.

Heroes are close enough to their leader to hear his heart and to know his desire. It means more to do what someone really wants than to server them with what you think they want!

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