This topic of "love," talking about it in the Biblical sense of "brotherly love," furnishes authors an almost endless supply of lesson material. Today, I'm going to attempt to provide you with one more little thought for you to consider about this kind of "love." In doing so we'll discuss a few examples of "love" and then I'll relate a story from World War 2 that I feel illustrates what we're discussing here.
You've probably surmised from the above scripture that the point of this lesson is how "love" overcomes "fear." In a moment you'll read a phrase written by a newsman who wrote a book about a tiny and mostly unknown aspect about WW2 that relates so much with the words of John that we see above. But, first lets think about this aspect of "love" overcoming "fear."
Aren't most kids when they're little afraid of the dark? Don't tell me you weren't, I know better because I was. What was it that made us afraid? My answer is: the unknown. We can't see what's "out there." What might be lurking behind the door or the bushes just waiting to pounce on us. And then, when mom or dad came into the room, or was walking with us, we weren't afraid anymore, were we? Because they "loved" us and wouldn't let the "boogie man" get us. Maybe we didn't fully understand that then, but nevertheless, we knew we were safe, were protected.
That same situation is what John is speaking of in our verse. We are God's Children and He is with us at all times as long as we are obedient children. He will not let anyone or anything take us away from Him. Why? Because He "loves" us. So much so that He sacrificed His only begotten Son to provide us the way to be His Children. By the same token, we "love" Him and believe that He is our protector, our "fortress" as Proverbs says and our "fear" leaves us.
This is a good point to go into our little story and I think you'll see how a President and the McClanahan family fit in it. I have to admit that I've taken literary license with it and condensed it to fit our time and space here. It is from a book entitled, "Once Upon A Time" by Bob Green.
With the bombing of Pearl Harbor our nation was plunged, rather drastically, into a world war. Men were enlisting or being drafted in great numbers into the military. One of the phenomenons of that war was the "troop trains" that crossed the country. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, a "troop train" of the Union Pacific Railroad was heading West from the East Coast and was due to pass through North Platte, Nebraska.
A few of the town's women heard about it as it was supposed to be carrying soldiers from the Nebraska National Guard. They made some cookies and went down to the station to meet the train as it stopped for a few minutes. It turned out to not be Nebraska troops, but they gave them their cookies anyway. Starting with these few women, they organized themselves and from then on they met every "troop train" passing through North Platte every day. During the 4 and ½ years of the war, 55,000 women met a total of 6 million troops arriving on sometimes 32 trains per day.
They gave them cookies, cakes, sandwiches and fruit, all of which they themselves paid for. See, during this time, everything was rationed and much of essential things were in short supply. They were the sole suppliers of everything given to the troops that came through North Platte. The only assistance they received from the government was, and here's our Presidential reference, President Roosevelt sent them a $5.00 check saying that he had heard of their good work. But, the greatest gift they gave the troops was that all of the gifts were given with "love." Each troop received their food and hugs with this phrase: "We're praying for you, God bless you." When interviewing troops after the war, the author said that men would cry when they told him about their stopover in North Platte, Nebraska.
It was one of those interviews that provides us with the phrase I mentioned earlier. The author said that one of the men told him: "I was an 18 year old kid, scared and going to war, in a place I'd never been before and didn't know anyone, and 'somebody loved me." It was then that the author made the statement that's so pertinent to our lesson. He said, "Love chases away fear."
For 4 and ½ years, 55,000 women met every train that came through North Platte, Nebraska and gave coffee and food to 6 million GI's on their way to war. Needless to say, many of them never returned from it. But the greatest gift they gave to those scared, young 18 year old's was the "love that chased away the fears." It's told that during some of the battles you could sometimes hear someone say, "Wouldn't it be great to be in North Platte, Nebraska right now?"
One more little episode from the book and then we'll close. A lady told about having her 90 year old grandfather in a nursing home because of dementia and that he was a WW2 veteran. She heard about North Platte and the next time she visited with her grandfather she asked him, "Does the name North Platte, Nebraska mean anything to you?" She said that his face lit up and he was instantly lucid. He replied, "North Platte, Nebraska, you bet it does! I went there and they gave me donuts and coffee and even shined my shoes. You bet I remember North Platte, Nebraska."
Perhaps you can think of other examples of "love" conquering or overcoming "fear" and I hope that you do as I hope that my writings cause people to think about the topics I've chosen. But, there's one big difference between the "love chasing away fear" for 10 minutes or so in North Platte and God's "love casting out fear." The "love of God" will "cast out" or "chase away" fear forever.
Ron Covey
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