Chaplains Column from July 2013 Camp Dispatch

The Prattville Dragoons Chaplain Tom Snowden provided another outstanding column in the July issue of the Camp Dispatch:

Chaplain’s Column:  Are We Like This Circle Of Birds?

            I once heard a story that goes like this. A bazaar was held in a village in northern India. Everyone brought his wares to trade and sell. One old farmer brought in a whole covey of quail. He had tied a string around one leg of each bird. The other ends of all the strings were tied to a ring which fit loosely over a central stick. He had taught the quail to walk dolefully in a circle, around and around, like mules at a sugarcane mill. Nobody seemed interested in buying the birds until a man came along. He believed in the Hindu idea of respect for all life, so his heart of compassion went out to those poor little creatures walking in their monotonous circles.

            The merchant was made happy when the man said "I want to buy them all."  After receiving the money, he was surprised to hear the buyer say, "Now, I want you to set them all free." With a shrug, the old farmer bent down and snipped the strings off the quail. They were freed at last.

            What happened? The birds simply continued marching around and around in a circle. Finally, the man had to shoo them off. But even when they landed some distance away, they resumed their predictable march. Free, unfettered, released . . . yet they kept going around in circles as if still tied.

            In looking around us today with sin abounding and so much corruption in government, it seems so few have interest in changing  it. It is as though we have become numb to our society. Maybe we are a little like those quail. We are just marching around in circles with our lives giving little attention to these subtle but drastic changes that have been occurring around us. There are so few willing to get out of this circle we are in and try to change things.

            I believe until we give ourselves permission to be the unique people God made us to be . . . and to do the unpredictable things grace allows us to do . . we will continue to be like that covey of quail, marching around in vicious circles of fear, timidity, and boredom. Let’s pray for our country--for a change, honesty, and God to be placed back in the center of our society.

            Let’s pray for guidance for the SCV.  We need his help in surviving our cause. God has told us that where even two or three of his children unite in asking a blessing he will give it to them in a special way. We have lost or are losing our parks, our flag and now it seems they want to change the names of our forts. We need prayer and guidance to save our precious Confederate history.

            We also need to remember to pray for those on our Dragoon prayer list:

           

1. James & Ann Spears
2. Bobby Carter & wife Merrill
3. James Little's wife Nita
4. David Brantley's wife Jennifer
5. Allen Herrod
6. Wayne Sutherland - back problems
7. John Durden's son, David Fail - TIA
8. Cecil Williamson - continued health problems
9. J.J. Oakley - breathing
10. Billy Parker's son-in-law, Stan Stuckey - recovering from heart attack.
11. James Whittington- Back problems
12. Pray for Justice in Selma court cases
13. David Brantley's mother Mary
14. Harold Grooms mother Sue Groom
15. Tom Snowden’s Brother In Law, Coolidge Sims

           

Yours In Christ,

Tom Snowden, Chaplain