On D-day, June 6th 1944, Joe Oleson floated into France in a wooden glider released from high above, descended silently for many minutes, and then parachuted out as he got near the ground. Joe was a radio man, so when he hit the ground in an apple orchard in France, his job was not to shoot anyone but to start sending messages as soon as possible.
Unfortunately for Joe his radio (which, big and heavy, was tethered to him by a long cord) hit the ground a lot harder than expected and was smashed into pieces. After he was able to disentangle himself form the apple tree he landed in, he made it to the radio to see that his accomplishing his main job would not be possible. He went to plan B…which was an infrared sending device strapped to his ankle. These had just been invented, and the new-fangled device for sending Morse code signals to aircraft overhead did not work at all. Joe then moved to plan C…which was…and you won’t believe this… a carrier pigeon that was strapped to his left shoulder. He took out the pigeon, scribbled his coordinates on a piece of paper, and released the bird. The bird, which apparently had been injured when Joe fell out of the tree, flew to the top of the apple tree and just sat there.
I thought of this story this week as we celebrated another anniversary of D-day. There was Joe, sitting there needing to communicate with those above. The radio, the infrared, even the old-school carrier pigeon all failed him as he sat lost and alone in the middle of France. All three were very different ways of communicating based on different situations and scenarios.
The Psalms are similar in some ways--different messages and cries sent to God depending on the situation. Joe could have offered a Psalm of Lament, or one of destruction upon his enemies…and by the time I met him many years later he was offering one of praise that he had survived the whole thing.
Unfortunately for Joe his radio (which, big and heavy, was tethered to him by a long cord) hit the ground a lot harder than expected and was smashed into pieces. After he was able to disentangle himself form the apple tree he landed in, he made it to the radio to see that his accomplishing his main job would not be possible. He went to plan B…which was an infrared sending device strapped to his ankle. These had just been invented, and the new-fangled device for sending Morse code signals to aircraft overhead did not work at all. Joe then moved to plan C…which was…and you won’t believe this… a carrier pigeon that was strapped to his left shoulder. He took out the pigeon, scribbled his coordinates on a piece of paper, and released the bird. The bird, which apparently had been injured when Joe fell out of the tree, flew to the top of the apple tree and just sat there.
I thought of this story this week as we celebrated another anniversary of D-day. There was Joe, sitting there needing to communicate with those above. The radio, the infrared, even the old-school carrier pigeon all failed him as he sat lost and alone in the middle of France. All three were very different ways of communicating based on different situations and scenarios.
The Psalms are similar in some ways--different messages and cries sent to God depending on the situation. Joe could have offered a Psalm of Lament, or one of destruction upon his enemies…and by the time I met him many years later he was offering one of praise that he had survived the whole thing.
Mark
(I got this story from Joe Oleson at the Branson Church of Christ one Sunday night.)
No comments:
Post a Comment