Dictionary
Several months ago I was talking to a young crew chief who was pretty junior in qualifications having just transitioned from the CH-46 to the VH-3. He noticed my black “Lox" boots (which were much shinier than the brown ones in this photo) and he said, “Dang sir, you must spend a lot of time shining your boots." To which I replied, “Well not that much, these are actually pretty easy to shine, but polished boots are a sign of professionalism."
Now granted, it does take some time, after all the young Lance Corporal had the same kind of boots on, and because he works on the aircraft all the time, his weren't so shiny. But he remembered what I said, and he is now one of the few Marine One Crew Chiefs. Of course I'm taking no credit for his success, if you ask me, it was all Jesus, because a few months later I learned that this (now) Corporal had accepted Christ. And this was no ordinary conversion, this young man has been radically saved!
The reason I know the Cpl remembered that what I said about boots was that it was revealed to me in a conversation with another Marine One crew chief, (a Sgt) who I knew from church. He said that this Cpl told him “shined boots were a sign of professionalism." The Sgt also said there were other things that he had noticed different since the conversion and how other people noticed the signs of change as well.
The reason I wanted to write this story is that I wanted to share another part of my experience with shiny boots (which now the rest of the Marine Corps doesn't have to worry about since deserts have replaced black boots.) When a fellow pilot (a Major) grabbed his shoe shine kit to polish his boots, I decided to do the same. “Copy cat!" he joshed with me, and again I used my adopted phrase “it's a sign of professionalism." This time, however, it was a much less receptive response I received. “If you measure someone's professionalism by the shininess of their boots, I'd really question your idea of what's important!" he said. Of course I defended my statement by saying simply, “I didn't say it was a measure of professionalism, just a sign, that's all."
And now for the third reason of this blog post: the reason I point out the differences between signs and measures is that we Christians sometimes get them mixed up in our spiritual dealings. The signs we show of our Christianity might just be very poor measures. Likewise, the measures of your Christianity might not reveal themselves with signs at all! It was my favorite group of 15 years ago “4 Him" that sang “I've found out the measure of a man, God knows and understands, for He looks inside, to the bottom of your heart – for what's in the heart defines – the measure of a man."
And it's the content of the heart (specifically belief in Christ as Savior and Lord) that defines what the measure of any Christian really is! It's not good deeds, or a bumper sticker that says “follow Jesus this close;" it's not a dedicated life of prayer or Bible study or even perfect church attendance since 3rd grade. Those all might be great signs, and signs are important because they show the way and alert us of danger. But lets not get them confused with measures. And let's be careful when we measure each other, because – as I remember from the movie of Oscar Wilde's only novel – the friend of Dorian Gray told him when his countenance remained the same as his portrait after several years, “I'd have to see your heart to really know if your good or evil, and only God can see your heart."
Peace,
Adam
PS: I went a little long on this one, sorry. That's what happens when sitting in the back of a C-17 from coast to coast… I wanted to write more about Jesus' example in His miraculous signs, but even more, how He gave His “last full measure of devotion" at the cross — for you. This indeed is more important than any shiny boots story, and it's already been written 2 thousand years ago, in 4 different accounts in fact, each by a separate eye witness. I hope you'll be encouraged to read more about it… Shoot! You just read about a Marine's boots, didn't you!