Pointe du Hoc, Normandy (Day 16, Part 6 of 8)

 

Between Utah and Omaha Beaches is a prominent cliff top location - Pointe du Hoc.  As part of the Atlantic Wall fortifications it was fortified by the Germans.  The battery was initially built in 1943 to house six captured French First World War vintage GPF 155mm K418(f) guns positioned in open concrete gun pits. 

 

To provide increased defensive capability, the Germans began to improve the defenses of the battery in the spring of 1944, with enclosed H671 concrete casemates being started and the older 155mm guns displaced. The plan was to build six casemates but two were unfinished when the location was attacked. The casemates were built over and in front of the circular gun pits, which housed the 155mm guns.

 

This battery was one of the most dangerous elements in the German coastal defenses of the assault area. With a 25,000-yard range, the 155's could put fire on the approaches to both Omaha and Utah Beaches.

 

 

Allied bombers struck Pointe du Hoc five times in the weeks before D-Day.  The raids destroyed one 155mm gun and caused the Germans to move the surviving guns inland.  Craters made from the bombings can still be seen. Remains of the bunkers are where they were in June 1944, with large pieces blown here and there.

 

 

During the American assault of Omaha and Utah beaches on June 6, 1944, U.S. Army Rangers scaled the 100-foot cliffs and seized the German artillery pieces that could have fired on the American landing troops at Omaha and Utah beaches. At a high cost of life, they successfully defended against determined German counterattacks.

 

The assault force was carried in ten landing craft, with another two carrying supplies and four DUKW amphibious trucks carrying the 100-foot (30 m) ladders requisitioned from the London Fire Brigade. One landing craft carrying troops sank, drowning all but one of its occupants; another was swamped. One supply craft sank and the other put the stores overboard to stay afloat. German fire sank one of the DUKWs. Once within a mile of the shore, German mortars and machine guns fired on the craft.

 

At 7:10 a.m. on June 6, the Rangers started up the cliffs.  By 7:40 most of the Rangers made it to the top.  By 9:30 the guns that the Germans had moved had been located and destroyed.  Fighting continued for two days before the Rangers were relieved.

 

At the end of the two-day action, the initial Ranger landing force of 225+ was reduced to about 90 fighting men.  The sacrifice and loss was great at Pointe du Hoc.

We spent about an hour wandering the pointe. Walking inside the bunker...

 

 

Barbed wire is still in place...

 

Looking down the cliffs, standing in the cold wind, it wasn't hard to imagine the courage and strength it took for these men to conquer this important location.

I don't think we truly understand what the word sacrifice really means.

57 Cents

 

The devotional in my Bible reading this morning had a wonderful story:

Hattie May Wiatt, a six-year-old girl, lived near Grace Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA. The Sunday school was very crowded. Russell H. Conwell, the minister, told her that one day they would have buildings big enough to allow everyone to attend. She said, ‘I hope you will. It is so crowded I am afraid to go there alone.’ He replied, ‘When we get the money we will construct one large enough to get all the children in.’

Two years later, in 1886, Hattie May died. After the funeral Hattie’s mother gave the minister a little bag they had found under their daughter’s pillow containing 57 cents in change that she had saved up. Alongside it was a note in her handwriting: ‘To help build bigger so that more children can go to Sunday school.’

The minister changed all the money into pennies and offered each one for sale. He received $250 – and 54 of the cents were given back. The $250 was itself changed into pennies and sold by the newly formed ‘Wiatt Mite Society’. In this way, her 57 cents *kept on multiplying*.

Twenty-six years later, in a talk entitled, ‘The history of the 57 cents’, the minister explained the results of her 57-cent donation: a church with a membership of over 5,600 people, a hospital where tens of thousands of people had been treated, 80,000 young people going through university, 2,000 people going out to preach the gospel – all this happened ‘because Hattie May Wiatt invested her 57 cents’.

Today's reading included Mark chapter 8, the story of Jesus multiplying loaves and fishes to feed 4,000.  Jesus didn't make the food appear out of nothing - He took what the disciples gave Him, then He multiplied it.  

 

Exodus chapters 35 and 36 were also part of today's reading.  This is about building the tabernacle. Chapter 35 verse 5 says, "Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it..."  The people responded in verse 21-29:

"And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered offered an offering of gold unto the Lord. And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver and brass brought the Lord's offering: and every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate; And spice, and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses."

Every one, every man, every woman.  It wasn't a billionaire or a few millionaires who donated from their abundance.  Every one gave willingly of what they had.  Chapter 36 tells us the result of this willingness:

"And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make.  And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.  For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much."

God's kingdom has never been built from the abundance of one person.  He uses everyone who is willing.  God's math doesn't work like ours.  Don't hold back because you don't think what you have is enough ~ 57 cents, seven loaves, a few fishes, whatever you give willingly will be what God will use.

Soaring in Praise and Worship

As soon as Sis. Gallimore asked me to speak about Soaring in Praise and Worship, I started thinking and praying about what I wanted to say.  We arrived in Hawaii on Sunday, August 4th.  That Tuesday morning I went out for a run and came back with inspiration! 

My spot on Saturday morning as I prayed and reviewed my notes.

I decided to use the word SOAR as an acronym and teach from that.  This isn't my complete lesson, but here are my four main points:

S = Sacrifice

This means as a slaughter, the flesh of an animal.  In the Old Testament sacrifice always involved death.  In the New Testament Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice.

Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Albert Barnes commentary said this, “A sacrifice is an offering made to God as an atonement for sin; or any offering made to him and his service as an expression of thanksgiving. It implies that he who offers it presents it entirely, releases all claim or right to it, and leaves it to be disposed of for the honor of God. In the case of an animal, it was slain, and the blood offered; in the case of any other offering, as the first-fruits, etc., it was set apart to the service of God; and he who offered it released all claim on it, and submitted it to God, to be disposed of at his will.  We must devote ourselves to God, as if we no longer had any claim on ourselves; to be disposed of by him; to suffer and bear all that he might appoint; and to promote his honor in any way which he might command.”

O = Oblation

This is not a word we use these days.  It is only found in the Old Testament, but the concept of an oblation is very interesting.  It means something brought near the altar.  It denotes any offering that is not a “bloody” sacrifice - a thank-offering; an offering of incense, flour, grain, etc.

In Numbers chapter 31, the children of Israel went to battle against the Midianites.  Twelve thousand men of Israel went to battle.  All the men of Midian were killed, but not a single Israelite was lost.

Numbers 31:49-50 says, "And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.   We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD."

This was a freewill offering, out of the spoil, over and above what was expected.  If we really want to soar in praise and worship we need to go over and above our reasonable service of sacrifice and bring an oblation.

A = Adoration

The words adore and adoration are not found in the Bible, although one of the definitions of worship is adore.

From Webster’s dictionary:

to worship or honor as a deity or as divine

to regard with loving admiration and devotion.

to be very fond of 

Mathew 8:2 says, "And behold, there came to him a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean."  The leper worshipped before the need was met

Mathew 14:33 says, "And they that were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God."   Those in the ship worshipped after Jesus calmed the storm

It doesn't matter if you're in a storm or just coming out of a storm, it's always the right time to adore Him!

R = Rejoice

To brighten up, be gleesome, joyful, exceeding gladness, to shout for joy, to spin around

Full of cheer, calmly happy

I thought calmly happy was a very interesting definition.  It's not what we normally think of when we think "rejoice," it seems deeper than an outward demonstration.

1Samuel 2:1-2 says, "And Hannah prayed, and said: My heart exulteth in Jehovah; My horn is exalted in Jehovah; My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; Because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as Jehovah; For there is none besides thee, Neither is there any rock like our God."

Mathew 2:10 says, "And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."  The definition of this word rejoice is calmly happy.

Conclusion:

To SOAR in worship and praise we must:

Bring the sacrifice of our lives,

Bring an oblation that is beyond what is expected

Adore Him because He’s worthy

Rejoice for all He’s done!

Let's Make a Deal

I'm continuing my reading in Judges.  Yesterday morning I read chapters 10 and 11.  Chapter 11 contains a very disturbing story:

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.

And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

I read many commentaries on this story.  They all agreed that this was a vow that Jephthah never should have made.  Since he only had one child, a daughter, the chances of it being either his wife or daughter who came out the door first were pretty high.  I don't know if he had servants, but he probably didn't have a pet dog!  Human sacrifice was never acceptable in God's eyes.

A few weeks ago I posted "Overtaken" and talked about all the promises God made about blessings.  These blessings don't come when we vow a vow.  They come because of obedience. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth."

I Samuel 15:22 says, "And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."   God isn't a vending machine ~ "If I put this much in, God will drop what I want out."  He's not a genie in a bottle.  God is sovereign.  He reigns.  We need to have faith, but we also need to trust the outcome to Him.

We like to quote Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."  But we sometimes forget about His purpose.  We must live according to His Word and trust that all things, all good things, all bad things, all hard things, all things will work together for good.  We might not see the good today, but the only deal we can make with God is to hearken diligently to His voice, observe and do His commandments.  He'll keep His end of the deal when we do our part!

The Alabaster Box

My Bible reading today included the verses in Matthew chapter 26 that talk about the woman with the alabaster box.  When I studied Women in the Bible in 2015 I was surprised to learn that there were two women who anointed Jesus with oil from an alabaster box.  I posted my original thoughts here.

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about and studying this subject since then.  Last year I taught a lesson to the ladies at New Life Pentecostal in Honolulu about this.  I wanted to share those thoughts here today.

These accounts are recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 7 and John 12.  The story in Luke is quite different from the accounts found in Matthew, Mark, and John. Only in Luke chapter 7 is the woman called a sinner. Her sins, according to Jesus, were many. There are interesting differences and similarities to these stories:

In both cases, Jesus is in the home of one named Simon. In Luke he is called a Pharisee. In Matthew and Mark, he is called "Simon the leper." Simon was a common name - there was Simon Peter, Simon the Cyrenian who carried Jesus' cross, and Judas Iscariot was the son of Simon - so it wouldn't be strange that Jesus visited the homes of two men with that same name.

In Matthew, Mark and John this takes place in Bethany, the city of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. In Luke they are in Nain, which was approximately 60 miles from Bethany.

There are other similarities in the stories as well. In both cases there were those who criticized. “Why was this waste made?” In Luke it was said “This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. “

The beauty in both cases is what Jesus did. Jesus accepted the sacrifice! The sacrifice from the heart of a worshiper. Jesus never rebuked the woman who was a sinner but told the parable of the two debtors, concluding with "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.“ He said “Thy sins are forgiven.” He never spoke to the woman in the other accounts but said to those who criticized, “I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.”

Only in John is the woman called Mary. I believe the woman in Matthew, Mark and John was Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.  Jesus had been in their home, she sat at His feet and He raised her brother from the dead. The woman in Luke was only known as a woman of the city who was a sinner. This may have been her very first encounter with the Master.

I think this makes the example of the alabaster ointment even more powerful. We all have an alabaster box. It’s our worship, our time, our talent, our finances. We’ve seen a brand new soul walk into a service and be deeply touched as they are in the presence of the Lord for the very first time. And we've watched “seasoned” saints worship beside them.

Just like what happened to those women, there will be those who will criticize and say, “What a waste! Why are you wasting so much time at the church?” Or there will be others who will look at your past and tell you that you aren’t worthy to touch Him.

No matter where we are in our spiritual journey, we always have an alabaster box to pour at His feet. And Jesus will always respond. He will grant forgiveness and healing. He won’t turn away from our worship.  May we have a fresh touch of the wonder of being in His presence. May we kneel at His feet again and pour out our thanks and praise from a thankful heart.

Food for Thought: Lent

This week marked the beginning of the Lenten Season.  This "is a solemn observance in the liturgical year of many Christian denominations, lasting for a period of approximately six weeks leading up to Easter Sunday." (source)

I really didn't know anything about Lent until I reached adulthood.  If school mates observed it, they never talked about it.  When I began working, I met several who followed the custom of giving up something for Lent.  I remember one co-worker who decided to give up alcohol.  He talked about it every single day.   He was counting down until he could have his next drink.  Others gave up chocolate and made a big production out of their sacrifice.

"But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:17-18

Please don't misunderstand me, I think there are times when all of us need to be more focused, we need media fasts, we need to push away from the table, but it is our daily life that counts.  Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."  We can't do it for 40 days out of the year, then go back to living life for ourselves.

In recent days I have also read about how negative Lent is.  "I don't want to give up anything, so I'm going to do something good instead."  This is such typical human behavior.  We don't want to do the hard things.  We want to take the path of least resistance.  I just couldn't help but think - "Calvary wasn't easy."  Jesus took the difficult route.  He gave all for mankind.  He died for us, while we were yet sinners.  He didn't stop halfway up Golgotha and say, "it's too hard."

I want to live my life, everyday, in a way that is pleasing to my Master.  There are things that I don't do, places I don't go, because I want to please Him.  I want to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." (Hebrews 12:1)

Take Up Your Cross
Take up your cross and follow Jesus
Take up your cross every day
Don’t be ashamed to say that you know Him
Count the cost, take up your cross and follow Him