Armor That Holds Up

ARMOR THAT HOLDS UP

I came across what I thought was a rather interesting story this week as I was preparing for this message. It was a story detailing a class action law suit aimed at a company called Second Chance Body Armor. Second Chance manufactures bullet proof vests for police officers and security personnel. Their products are used by hundreds of police departments throughout the country.

Apparently several policemen have been killed recently even though they were wearing the vest. Following some independent field tests on several of their vests it was discovered that there was a flaw with some of their products and it wouldn't actually stop a bullet that was fired at it.

So apparently some rather picky quality control people got all bent out of shape and decided to sue this manufacturer for misrepresenting the quality of its product. The lawsuit alleged that the company withheld information about known defects in its bulletproof vests and sold them anyway. But in all fairness you have to give the company its due -- Trying to maintain its image as being a caring and compassionate business the company responded by participating in a voluntary replacement program for anyone who had purchased one of the potentially lethal vests at no cost to the end user. (So if you have a vest and you haven't been shot yet, they are willing to give you another one.) Along with its replacement program the company has on its website an apology for any inconvenience that their faulty vests may have caused anyone.

Now I think that was rather nice of them, don't you? - To offer an apology for the inconveniences of a bulletproof vest that doesn't work? "Hey we're not too proud to admit when we're wrong. We just didn't realize at the time that you wanted every single vest to work. Sorry for the misunderstanding."

The attorney General spearheaded the class action lawsuit - which Second Chance lost. Upon receiving the terms of the settlement, it promptly filed for bankruptcy to avoid having to actually pay out any claims.

When you hear stories like that doesn't it bother you? When you're dealing with something as serious a bulletproof vests -- what margin of error is acceptable? Absolutely none, right? The thought of someone being careless or more concerned about money than safety when it comes to protecting the lives of police officers is unimaginable. When you got someone shooting at you, you want to know that the armor you're wearing is actually going to work, right?

Well today we are going to be looking at the armor of God -- and one thing we can be absolutely assured of -- this armor will hold up in the heat of battle.

(From a sermon by Tim Vamosi, Battle Lines - Part Two, 1/5/2011)