2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Each of the soldiers in the battalion received a tent, with instructions from their
sergeant to take care of the tent, keep in dry and wrapped up. They would be marching
into battle and the tent would be their temporary shelter when entering the battlefield.
After a day or so, one of the soldiers began to get bored with his tent. It was too drab
and boring he thought to himself. Might as well try to make it a little more homey, since
he was going to be staying in it for a while. When he was younger, his mother had taught
him to embroider, so he began to make designs on his tent. His fellow soldiers thought
his was a little odd, but they just overlooked it for a while. Then one day, he decided
his tent needed a little awning, so he could sit out in front of it in the evenings, so
he found some material and built his awning. Again, the other soldiers thought it strange,
but let it go. He then began to find other little things about with which to decorate
and adorn his drab little tent, but this began to become a bit of a problem, because it
started to take him a little longer to pack it up when it was time to move on, and it
started to slow him down, and the other soldiers had to wait on him a little longer.
They began to discuss it among themselves, and finally, one of the soldiers confronted
him about it. He did not take it very well, and was a bit offended that the other
soldiers did not understand his need to make his tent more comfortable, since, after
all, they were going to be away from home for a long time, and there was nothing wrong
with him wanting to make himself a little more comfortable, since he was giving himself
to be a soldier, and march out into enemy lines on a daily basis. One morning, as the
other soldiers were hastily rolling up their tents and getting their gear packed up,
one of them found this soldier planting little bushes and flowers around the outside of
his tent. “We have to leave, now!” shouted the battalion leader. “The enemy knows our
position, and they are advancing quickly!” The soldier fumbled to get his things together,
but in an instant, a grenade that had been lobbed from the enemy’s camp came and hit
the soldier’s tent, and wiped out his life, and his little tent that he had worked so
hard at making his temporary home.
Danny's Stump 