Chaplain’s Chat                      Rev. Dun Gordy

LIKE A ROCK

Stones.  Rocks. They are a rare find in the state of Florida except for the sandstone found in a few areas.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find several very large stones almost buried in pine straw, tangled vines and palmetto fronds out by the back fence.  I decided to dig 2 or three of them out and place them at the edge of my flowerbed for decoration.  The more I dug, the more I found.  Very few were smaller than a Florida grapefruit; a few were almost too big to haul in my wheelbarrow.  In a couple of hours of backbreaking, sweaty work I had a rock garden about the size of my flower garden. 

As I sorted them out and selected which one to place where, I was reminded of that verse in 1 Peter 2:5 where he talks of the make-up of the Church: “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

The thought occurred to me that man makes bricks - God made rocks.  When we want to construct a sturdy and enduring building, we use bricks and blocks.  When God determined to build His Church, He chose to use stones, living stones.

Bricks and building blocks meet the standard of being identical.  Each individual is the same size, weight, shape, color and texture as the next.  But not rocks.  Not stones.  There are no two alike.  Snowflakes get lots of recognition as being each unique.  But any rock you find will be just as uniquely different from any another as snowflakes. 

It is true that in the Church There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:” – we are all “just plain Christians.”   But each is a unique individual and you will never find any two of us just alike. 

Our Sons of Confederate Veterans has a lot in common with churches and stones in that characteristic of uniqueness.  I’ve had the privilege of visiting several local camps and so far, I’ve never been in two that were just alike Each camp has it’s own uniqueness, its own “flavor”, with different characteristics, and personality.

And in the same manner, there seem to be no two Compatriots just alike.  Our Commander has a father and brothers in our camp but each Binkley is a unique Son of the Confederacy. 

There are some things that make us different from the rest of the population but there are some characteristics that are common to all of us.  We love our country, we are proud of our heritage and we honor our predecessors.  We may be Baptist or Methodists, Democrats or Republicans, ‘Gators or Seminoles but when it comes to our SCV we are Americans, we are Southerners and are proud of our ancestor who fought for the Confederacy.  And we all pray GOD BLESS DIXIE! 

Dun