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Jesse’s Story

He arrived at the military boot-camp in Fort Benning not sure what to expect.  The commanding officers handed him a gun and all the young recruits started marching in formation.  As he marched, he began to internalize what he was training for and the gun got heavier and heavier.  Jesse felt a mysterious but not uncertain whisper from God that God did not want him to kill or to carry a gun.  The discomfort was more than he could bear and he eventually tried to quietly break formation and talk with his commanding officer.  Not so quick.  “What the fuck are you doing soldier!?” he blasted.  Jesse said gently, “I need to talk with you.  I have a problem.”  “What the fuck’s your problem soldier?”  He shouted in front of all the others.

With all hopes for a quite private conversation squelched, Jesse told his commander,  “As we are marching, I felt like God didn’t want me to carry a weapon.  I felt like I should love my enemies and that means not killing them.”  The officer fumed with rage.  “Get on your knees soldier” he said.  And he had the soldiers march around Jesse in a circle.  “Soldiers, do you want to see what a piece of shit looks like…. Left, Right, Left…  This is a piece of shit.  Left, Right...” 

On his knees Jesse thought of it like prayer. It felt like insults and principalities and powers were swarming him.  Humiliated, hurt, he could feel Jesus so near.  The soldiers tore the cross around his neck off.  They ordered him to rip the flag from his uniform, insisting that he was unworthy to wear those colors of red white and blue.  He was handcuffed and taken into custody, now identified and branded as a deserter.  In the holding area his handcuffs were removed and he was free to move about, and had somehow still retained his cell phone.  Hmmm. 

He decided to call for a cab, and leave the rest in God’s hands.  Taxis actually moved freely on and off the base transporting soldiers, but of course were careful not to violate security.  So Jesse left the area and hid in the bushes awaiting the cab.  Minutes passed in what felt like hours, and finally he saw it pull up the long drive. 

He hopped in the back of the taxi, greeted by a lovely old southern woman.  “Hey there soldier,” she said, “where you headed?”  “To the Greyhound station,” Jesse piped back.  Her eyes moved from his uniform with the patches removed, and she said frankly, “I ain’t accusin’ you of anything, but I’d better say that we’re not allowed to transport no AWOL soldiers.  I’m not sayin’ you’re AWOL. But if you are you should know I ain’t allowed to take you anywhere.  And you should also know that soldiers are stationed to check for AWOL soldiers at the bus station.”   Silence, there was a moment of hopelessness, but then she continued. 

“So just in case you were AWOL you would want me to take you by the Wal-Mart so you can get a change of clothes” she smirked.  Jesse smiled, “Uhh, come to think of it can we make a pit-stop before the bus station?  I need to swing by Wal-Mart.” They laughed as she pulled up to the Wal-Mart superstore, which had never looked so appealing.  With soldiers in uniform all around him, he ran quickly knowing that at any moment he could be easily spotted and all would ruined.  He grabbed the first clothes he could see and darted through the checkout counter to buy his new outfit, and jumped back into the getaway car outside.  In the back of the taxi he changed clothes, doing his best to squeeze into his new outfit, which was a long shot from being the right size.  He gave his new friend a hefty tip and made it safely onto his bus to head home.  In some strange way it did seem like God did not want him to carry a gun, and God was able to make another way when there seemed to be no way.

This is a true story.  Shortly after arriving home to his small town in IL, Jesse found himself wanted, with a warrant out for his arrest.  And in a lovely act of revolutionary subordination, he turned himself in and was eventually legally discharged along with many other soldiers.  Soon after that, he came to visit us here at The Simple Way.

We ourselves were well conversant with war, murder and everything evil, but all of us throughout the whole wide earth have traded in our weapons of war.  We have exchanged our swords for plowshares, our spears for farm tools… now we cultivate the fear of God, justice, kindness, faith, and the expectation of the future given us through the crucified one… the more we are persecuted and martyred, the more do others in ever increasing numbers become believers.  –Justin (martyred in 165AD)

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