Letter to a Young Cadet

What follows is a letter sent to me a couple of months before I was commissioned an officer (yeah, it's hand written on paper- before email! And yeah, I kept it- to read every now and then. It's good advise that's worth re-reading).

Dear Doug,

It's been awhile since I sat down and dropped you a line, but what would a Saturday night be without all this excitement? You've got 90 days or so left- then you'll realize that all that fantastic education you're getting hasn't really prepared you for the future corps lurking down the corridors of time. God has a graduate school of The Spirit open for enrollment- it's called "survive!" Let me give you insights gleaned one at a time from mistakes I have made.

1) Refuse to listen to all complaints about the previous officer- whether right or wrong. The person who complains will do the same thing with you to the next officer as an attention-getting device. The problem is that truth without love is a lie to a Christian and you need to deal with the sin of the gossiper then and there. One of the seven abominations of God is "he who spreads discord among the brothers and sisters."

MORAL: Never use band aids. Cure the problem so it does not return, no matter how much more time it takes.

2) Be loyal and supportive of DHQ, no matter how unreasonable, dumb and archaic their requests may seem. Do not complain about them to your corps people and fellow officers. The problem is that you reap what you sow- in everything. If you want love and loyalty from your flock, you have to give it freely to your shepherds (space cadets though they may seem). It will be ten more years before you realize how intelligent and caring they have been all along.

MORAL: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," because you will harvest what you sow eventually and always.

3) Pray about everything, everywhere, anytime. Interrupt your conversations with "Let's pray about it." If someone says "Please pray for . . ." do it then, with them. The real problem is that your people do not know how to pray and they refuse to learn how. They must be shown by your example of it being so valuable to you that they can't help but try it.

MORAL: We have to preach that God answers prayer. The only escape from hypocricy is to prove it every day of our lives- publicly.

4) There is no such thing as a problem. There are only opportunities. That seems nice until your YPSM develops cancer, the CSM runs off with someone else's wife and the United Way zero funds you for next year- all in the same day (Murphy's Law again- everything goes wrong all at once!). The problem is that we are required to live in heaven while physically being on earth and everything can be used to point men and women to eternity- but we react to problems with our human nature. Even when the problems are personal- thank God for them, pray yourself into obedience to his will and start rejoicing because your name is written in heaven.

MORAL: Your biggest spiritual victories in life will happen when you face your biggest problems. Thank God for your problems- even when it seems irrational. It probably is!

5) Learn to say "I don't know." You will be an officer- who will be asked to answer everything from trivia to deep psychological conflicts and will be expected to be an authority. The problem is that we abuse our authority and lend "Papal infallibility" to our opinions to our people. Tell them if you don't know- and give 1/2 the advise you are tempted to give. They might even come to consider you almost human- and then, and only then, listen to your sermons.

MORAL: "Even a fool, when he holds his tongue is esteemed wise" (Solomon). Your people are partners, not puppets and even the most ignorant of them know respect for their opinions when they see it.

6) Finally- don't listen to brothers who give advice. They think that their Christian experience will be duplicated in everyone's life and that God doesn't like variety. Read their mail (condescendtion is allowed here, however) and then try divine wisdom instead.

MORAL: If your advise isn't from God, confirmed by scripture- doubt it. Some of your greatest innovations come from doing the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing.

Sorry to go, but I have a few windmills to chase.

With Love,
Don Quiote