Sermon Illustrations

When our ship was in dry dock, I was assigned a watch in the barracks one night. I don’t remember what the problem was, I usually did not have this problem, but that night I was very sleepy. Since it was my own barracks I was roaming, I slipped into my room and lay down ... just for a moment. About a half hour after my watch was to be over, I heard a banging on my door. and the watch supervisor came in to find me sprawled out on my bed.

I was too frightened even to apologize. The standard punishment for this sort of low level lapse of duty was 10 days in the brig, accompanied by a fine and three days bread and water. I did not get into trouble, but he was not happy. I think it was too much effort to write me up.

This was a peace time, a quiet night on a base beneath several layers of guard. A very non-risk situation. The watch here was perfunctory. The punishment in higher risk situations is much more serious. Jesus gives us the ultimate.

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