THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
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By: Danny Bryant

"Sacred" is a word which has almost disappeared out of our modern lexicon and public discourse and yet we find that it was an indispensable and valued precept during our founding period as detailed above. Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines sacred in this way: "Holy, separated from common secular uses and consecrated to God; Proceeding from God; Relating to religion or worship of God as sacred songs or sacred history.". Perhaps reviewing this definition will help you as much as it helped me to understand the essence and thrust of our founder's thinking during this critical time. As we approach the 250th celebration of Independence Day perhaps it would be of value to review some historical truths.

"Somewhere perhaps there is trouble and fear", thinks the brave knight Sir George, as he mounts his mighty steed before riding out of the castle early one morning. Such was the course set by his morally ambitious consciousness, habitually searching to aid others. My kind of guy! One can easily transpose the picture of battle-ready armed forces personnel or first-responder personnel onto this early morning scene. However, there are many of these morally ambitious consciousness type "knights" among us in the form of coaches, teachers, pastors, neighbors, and especially parents and grandparents. Perhaps...

As you read the below paragraphs, about the investiture of a knight and the expectations of him, see if you can find any principles that would translate to your life as a Christian man, a Christ Follower, in 2026. Make a note of your recent observations of fear and/or anxiety associated with the warfare in the Middle East and Ukraine, the global economic uncertainty, health threats to families, urban civil unrest, etc. The medieval knight emerged as a defender of the Church and all its related territory. That defense was the basis for the Crusades to the Holy Land to quell Muslim invaders. The candidate for knighthood, a squire, was required to first prove that he could master himself before he could be trusted to master an enemy, highlighting the critical nature of discipleship.

The year is 1415 and young King Henry V has landed a well-equipped English army in Normandy. On their march inland they encounter stiff opposition as they lay siege to the strategic city of Harfleur. However, their greatest enemy is dysentery which kills or incapacitates about one third of the army or 3000 men. After Harfleur surrenders, Henry marches on covering 200 miles in just 16 days. The English army now exhausted, filthy, and starving reaches Agincourt only to find themselves facing a much larger French army of 15,000. Not only were they the visiting team but the home team had much more than home field advantage.

As you read the below paragraphs, about the investiture of a knight and the expectations of him, see if you can find any principles that would translate to your life as a Christian man, a Christ Follower, in 2025. Make a note of your recent observations of fear and/or anxiety associated with the post-pandemic. culture, global economic uncertainty, threats to faith/family/liberty and civil unrest.

"There comes the baffling call of God in our lives. The call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because his call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is after." Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Over the years I have been involved in building, participating, and leading teams in a variety of challenging operational environments. These have included: leading helicopter gunship fire teams in Vietnam (607 missions); Officer-In-Charge Navy East Coast Search and Rescue Swimmers School; Officer-IN-Charge, Helicopter Combat Support Detachment One, Commander Middle East Force; Operations Officer, HS-7 a carrier-based anti-submarine aviation squadron; Head, Navy Corrections Washington, DC, 21 facilities worldwide; designing, building and then serving as the first Commanding Officer of a new generation naval prison; the first Commanding Officer of newly formed 5th Battalion, South Carolina State Guard; and serving as Chief of Staff of a South Carolina Sheriff's Office.