Famous and/or Faithful

   For some reason, I am drawn to stories of people and events that are historically important, but that are largely unknown. Stories that have changed the course of history, but stories that are hidden under the glamorous events and personalities that claimed the headlines.

   There are so many stories of individuals, lives lived during momentous times, deeds done in obscurity, but differences made in ways that affect my life, even to this day. There are so many story lines interwoven into history, important to the whole story, but hidden to all except maybe the immediate family.

   One of my favorite historical periods are the war years of 1939-1945, otherwise known as WWII, I guess because I lived as a boy through that time.

   Many, many books have brought out the personalities of the period, from the generals and prime ministers to the lowly private in the ranks. Men and women of both sides, individual stories all, made up the whole tapestry of that event and its times.

   The book I am reading right now, Forgotten Sacrifice, contains many names of people that are familiar, but also many stories of individuals that are unknown to most. It is the story of the Arctic convoys that brought war material to the old Soviet Union from the US and Britain, material that enabled Russia to continue the fight against Germany, while the western allies built up their forces.

   This book is a story of heroic men, battling the seas of the North Atlantic, in the worst of weather, braving winds, waves, temperatures and the enemy in a harsh unforgiving climate. This is not D-Day, or Tarawa, or Pearl Harbor, places and events known to most, but seamen, sailing in terrible conditions in slow, lumbering merchant ships and tankers, delivering supplies to a nation in need.

   In any "big story" there are millions of smaller ones that make up the whole and help determine the outcome. That is true for those men in WWII, and it is true for us, in the lives that we live today. We can't see the far reaching affects of decisions we make today, but these, which can be good or bad, are determinants as well.

   What is the key to positive outcomes of what we do? I would submit that it falls under the term of "faithfulness".

   Those seamen were faithful to the task just as those privates on Omaha Beach were faithful in what they had to do. Thousands of individual stories all over the world, combining to spell the outcome of that conflict.

   Each of us make decisions and take actions every day and these affect the lives of future generations as well as the immediate present. It behooves us to be faithful to do what God has given us to do. I read this in a blog post by one of my VA friends this morning:

  "The thing God cares about and honors is faithfulness, not famousness. Face it: faithfulness is pretty boring. Faithfulness looks like creating spreadsheets and changing diapers and caring for aging parents and setting up chairs on Sunday morning. Nobody gets a standing ovation for faithfulness. Nobody makes documentaries about faithful servants. Nobody notices faithful servants. 

   Nobody except God, that is."  

   God knows.