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Day 15 & 16<br />
Mightier than the waves of the sea is his love...<br />
Is the pen mightier than the sword...<br />
The Voice...<br />
"You need a voice to tell the world your story"<br />
The hook line for a very famous and very<br />
powerful song written by one of the greatest<br />
songwriters of our time. OK, I'm exaggerating<br />
a little, it's one of mine. Joking aside though,<br />
when I wrote the voice it carried with it a very<br />
simple message, if you need help use your<br />
voice to ask for it, if you have something to<br />
say, use your voice to say it. Unfortunately it<br />
is never as easy as that in this day and age.<br />
Two opposite forms of speaking sit in my<br />
mind today. Firstly, anyone who has gone<br />
through military basic training will know the<br />
power of the voice. Not in the least when<br />
some angry drill sergeant is screaming blue<br />
thunder two inches from the end of your<br />
nose. It kind of tends to grab your attention<br />
and gets the point across in no uncertain<br />
terms. I can almost feel the cringing from<br />
every veteran that's out there. The second<br />
example comes from listening to a Sunday<br />
morning politics show in which our Prime<br />
Acts 9: 1-19<br />
This is my favourite subject by far. I absolutely<br />
adore writing. It gives me an awful lot<br />
of pleasure not only in the actual act of writing<br />
but also hearing what others take from<br />
what I write. In the last five years I have written<br />
songs, poetry, three musical plays (Two<br />
of them Rock Operas), a very successful Veterans<br />
Magazine, a PTSD self help guide and<br />
now I am writing a new publication called<br />
<strong>Have</strong> <strong>Faith</strong>. Hence my ramblings here.<br />
When I think of the reasons why I have come<br />
to this, I can only say that I want to help veterans<br />
by being their voice. I will help anyone<br />
I can and it doesn't matter what background<br />
you come from, if you get a little bit of good<br />
from what I write, I am a happy man. I know<br />
deep in my heart this is the path God has set<br />
me on. He knows what I have been through<br />
in my life, he knows my strengths and my<br />
weaknesses and uses both of those for his<br />
work. Now, I do not have any formal qualifications<br />
in writing, I certainly do not think of<br />
myself as Godly or any type of minister or<br />
pastor, in fact I consider myself that falls a<br />
long way from Gods standards but I do know<br />
I have a gift that He uses through me to<br />
speak to people. We all possess these gifts,<br />
the trick is to recognise them. I know, in the<br />
fight that I am involved in, God has armed me<br />
with a pen. So, yes, in my case, the pen is<br />
mightier than any sword. I have spoken<br />
about St Paul in the past and the road he<br />
took to going from making his mistakes to becoming<br />
a true Saint. He was also a pen master.<br />
Proof? take a look at the New Testament.<br />
Much of it written by him. Does this not prove<br />
the gifts that we are given and how they can<br />
be used? Does it also not prove he uses<br />
those who have sinned the most to build his<br />
church on? What an amazing thing. Yes, St<br />
Paul was a man who's Pen was mightier than<br />
his Sword.<br />
Matthew 7: 7-12, Phillipians 4: 4-7.<br />
Minister was asked a question about a recent<br />
Trident missile accident and the cover up surrounding<br />
it. No matter how directly the young<br />
reporter put the question, the Prime Minister<br />
came back with an answer that avoided the<br />
question all together. I could see the reporter<br />
filling with rage as though her voice was not<br />
being heard. As veterans, we often feel this<br />
way in so many of our issues. One lesson I<br />
have learnt is that God hears every voice<br />
from the loudest scream to the faintest whisper.<br />
He doesn't only hear but he answers too,<br />
maybe not in the time we want or maybe not<br />
the answer we want but you can guarantee<br />
that every answer will be right and true. I<br />
won't guarantee that we will get what we<br />
want but I will guarantee that he will never ignore<br />
us or skirt around the question. What<br />
we must not be afraid to do is ask. A simple<br />
prayer in your own privacy is all it takes. So,<br />
go on, use your voice to tell the Lord your<br />
story.<br />
www.sandbagtimes.co.uk/havefaith 15 |
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