Free-Reprint Article Written by: Gary Kurz See Terms of Reprint Below.
***************************************************************** * * This email is being delivered directly to members of the group: * * [email protected] * ***************************************************************** We have moved our TERMS OF REPRINT to the end of the article. Be certain to read our TERMS OF REPRINT and honor our TERMS OF REPRINT when you use this article. Thank you. This article has been distributed by: http://Article-Distribution.com Helpful Link: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Overview http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- Article Title: ============== Pat Tillman's Example Article Description: ==================== A Challenge for Christian Service Additional Article Information: =============================== 584 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: 2006-12-07 12:48:00 Written By: Gary Kurz Copyright: 2006 Contact Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For more free-reprint articles by Gary Kurz, please visit: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Gary_Kurz ============================================= Special Notice For Publishers and Webmasters: ============================================= If you use this article on your website or in your ezine, We Want To Know About It. Use the following URL to let us know where you have used this article, and we will include a link to your website on thePhantomWriters.com: http://thephantomwriters.com/notify.php?id=4031&p=load HTML Copy-and-Paste and TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of Article Are Available at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/k/pat-tillman's-example.shtml#get_code --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pat Tillman's Example Copyright (c) 2006 Gary Kurz Cold Noses Book www.coldnosesbook.com It wasn't of the magnitude of 9/11, but the news stunned the nation just the same. Pat Tillman was dead. The man who personified the "can do" spirit of America, the ultimate volunteer, had fallen in battle. His courage and willingness to stand on his convictions for the benefit of this country mirrored the example set by the founding fathers. Like them, he walked away from personal fortune and fame, risking his life when he did not have to, pushed on by the dictates of a patriot's heart. No price could have kept him from what he perceived to be his duty; no cost could have persuaded him to reconsider. Working hard to achieve personal readiness for combat, he pushed himself relentlessly, as he had done in the National Football League. His arduous training complete, he arrived on the battlefield a distinguished Army Ranger and became the darling of the American public. Collectively, perhaps without even realizing it, Americans channeled their zeal and support for the war effort through this one towering volunteer. Tillman had become the Audie Murphy of our day, capturing the hearts of most Americans. Now he was gone. If that was not enough, we were to learn that he fell, not at the hands of terrorists or insurgents, but rather from accidental friendly fire. The delay of this news and the apparent attempt to cover up the circumstances of his death, led to public indignation and an understandable response of outrage from his family. That notwithstanding, Tillman's wonderful example of selflessness should not be diminished in the minds of Americans, especially Christian Americans. What set him apart from the other great men and women of our armed services was his willingness to subordinate himself when he was on top of the world. By his own admission he felt he owed a debt to society and he willingly volunteered to pay it. Although sadly, Tillman himself claimed to be an atheist, we Christians would do well to emulate his altruistic and sacrificial spirit. There are many similarities between Tillman's situation and that of the believer. In Christ, we also are on top of the world, figuratively speaking. Romans 8:37 (kjv) reminds us that ""¦we are more than conquerors through him that loved us". Additionally, we too have a debt to society; to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to them. We too must subordinate ourselves, assuming the role of soldier and servant in order to accomplish our mission and win the battle. Moreover, like Tillman, we are volunteers, or at least we should be. Of course we have a mandate from the Lord to "go and teach all nations"; I won't argue that. Clearly, Jesus was not asking for volunteers. The reality is however, that many Christians do not go, because they chose not to. God allows us to exercise our free will and we are free to disobey. Could God force us to obey? Of course he could"¦but he doesn't. God does not want us to be mindless drones without conviction. He wants us to willingly and purposely obey him. He desires for us to voluntarily submit to his will and to carry out the great commission to evangelize. While we can do nothing more for Pat Tillman than to celebrate his service to America, he can do much for us by the example he set. Christians need to catch hold of his selfless zeal and surrender themselves to the work of the Lord. The Lord loves a willing heart. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Kurz, is a retired Coast Guard Officer and Baptist Preacher. His most popular book, "Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates" delivers hope and comfort to those who have lost a cherished pet. Visit at http://www.coldnosesbook.com for more information, tips and other useful features or write to Gary at [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- END ARTICLE --- Get HTML or TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of This Article at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/k/pat-tillman's-example.shtml#get_code ..................................... TERMS OF REPRINT - Publication Rules (Last Updated: May 11, 2006) Our TERMS OF REPRINT are fully enforcable under the terms of: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.2281.ENR: ..................................... *** Digital Reprint Rights *** * If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links). * Links must remain in the form that we published them. Clean links should point to the Author's links without redirects having been inserted into the copy. * You are not allowed to Change or Delete any Words or Links in the Article or Resource Box. Paragraph breaks must be retained with articles. You can change where the paragraph breaks fall, but you cannot eliminate all paragraph breaks as some have chosen to do. * Email Distribution of this article Must be done through Opt-in Email Only. No Unsolicited Commercial Email. * You Are Allowed to format the layout of the article for proper display of the article in your website or in your ezine, so long as you can maintain the author's interests within the article. * You may not use sentences from this article as an input for any software that steals sentences from others in order to build an article with software. The copyright on this article applies to the "WHOLE" article. *** Author Notification *** We ask that you notify the author of publication of his or her work. Gary Kurz can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ..................................... If you need help converting this text article for proper hyperlinked placement in your webpage, please use this free tool: http://thephantomwriters.com/link-builder.pl ===================================================================== ABOUT THIS ARTICLE SUBMISSION http://thePhantomWriters.com is a paid article distribution service. thePhantomWriters.com and Article-Distribution.com are owned and operated by Bill Platt of Stillwater, Oklahoma USA. The content of this article is solely the property and opinion of its author, Gary Kurz www.coldnosesbook.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX --------------------------------------------------------------------- *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* To have your article appear in this distribution list, you must absolutely be a client of thePhantomWriters. We offer a paid article distribution service, and this is one of the more than 60 groups where we submit our client articles. To learn more about our program, visit: http://thePhantomWriters.com/x.pl/tpw/index.htm Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thePhantomWriters/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thePhantomWriters/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
