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&In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths&

"Lord, Let Me Fight"

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As I sit here and write this little article, which the Lord put upon my heart just this morning, I am hand writing it in a hotel room in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  If it should be the Lord's will, I will transpose this article to my word processor as soon as possible after returning to my home in South Carolina.  Now, I don't normally hand write the articles the Lord gives me first as this is the first time, but I have learned that if the Lord gives you something, the devil will do everything within his power to steal it away.  Now, I only say all this because this hotel room and this place, "Pigeon Forge, Tennessee" play a big part in this article.  It is my desire and my prayer that by the time this little article is finished it will serve as a very real and lasting blessing to those who will read it.

As I have already mentioned, I am in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Well, my family and I are here on vacation and we came here to attend some revival services conducted by Dr. J. Harold Smith and the Radio Bible Hour Ministries.  Last night was the first of four of these services and the Lord so richly blessed the hearts of many.  There was a really good crowd of what I would estimate to be close to five thousand people in attendance.

Last night also, the Lord so graciously afforded me the opportunity of meeting and singing along with and then hearing Mr. Squire Parsons sing for the first time.  Now, I guess I am probably one of the few Christians who had never heard Mr. Parsons sing before, but for those others who may not have ever heard him, he is a truly great baritone singer as well as song writer.

The singing was great and much praise was made unto the Lord.  Mr. Parsons told a little about himself and his ministry and how he came to be in his ministry.  He sung a song which he said many people had already requested he sing and the name of that song was, "Sweet Beaulah Land".  Mr. Parsons wrote this wonderful song while he was still a school teacher and band director in his hometown of Charleston, West Virginia in the early 1970's, but he just filed it away and didn't publish it until 1979 after becoming a soloist in Asheville, North Carolina just after leaving the Kingsmen Quartet.

You may be wondering what all this has to do with the title of this little article and I sincerely hope that none of it has been boring to you, for I believe it is all pertinent to, not only the title, but also to the message or theme of it.

You see, along about the same time Mr. Parsons wrote this wonderful song, I too was in a strange land called Vietnam and I can remember so vividly those terrible pains of being homesick.  The song, "Sweet Beulah Land" begins with the words, "I'm kind of homesick".  Friends, when I was in this strange land of Vietnam there was a war going on.  The one thing I remember most of all and which was apparent with the writing and the words of this great song is the fact that in this war that I was in, while the battle was going on there wasn't much time to think about how homesick I was.  It was when there was a lull in the battle and the tasks at hand that homesickness and depression set in.

Likewise, in the early 1970's when Mr. Parsons wrote this wonderful song, though he was active in his church, he was not yet in the battle that the Lord had apparently called him to do.  Likewise, Mr. Parsons had time to dwell upon the feelings of homesickness.  He was still a school teacher and band director which though these are both noble occupations, they were not what the Lord ultimately wanted for him.  Mr. Parsons sung several other songs which he has written since he has been in the battle and the theme of these songs were more of praise unto the Lord and inspiration to fellow Christians.

Friends, Mr. Parsons has been truly blessed with a beautiful voice and though he has had much musical training, the ability he has is not from training, but it is from the Lord.  It is evident that this ministry he is in is what the Lord has called him to do and though I'm sure there are many times when he recounts those feelings of homesickness, I can assure you from the theme of the other songs he sang, those feelings are not prevalent and only prevail in the short lulls in the battle.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with being homesick and longing for our home land, but when we dwell upon those thoughts and they prevail in our thoughts, they will surely bring us down as with those around us.

Though I love to sing praises unto my Lord and I do as much as I can, I must face the fact that I have the voice of a bullfrog and the musical talent of a fire truck.  Though I don't write all that great, you should hear me talk.  I write, my friends, to try to bring the glory and honor and praise unto the Lord that is due Him and to try and be a blessing and inspiration to my fellow Christians and to those who don't yet know Him.  As I said in the beginning of this little article, I am sitting here in a hotel room in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee hand writing this little article.  Now, though I truly enjoyed that revival service last night, as I sat here after reading my Bible this morning in this hotel, which, to say the least lacks the comforts of home, I began to become homesick and I said, "Lord, let me fight".  Thus, this little article, which I pray has inspired and encouraged you. 

Friend, when I was in Vietnam I truly was homesick.  I was lost at that time and  I was homesick for the land of America and the family I was born unto.  At that time, there was a very real war going on.  Since that time though, the Lord has so graciously saved me and I do long for that new home where I will go, I believe very soon, but not until the Lord says so.  Friend, there is a very real going on right now and I won't be going home until either my discharge through death or at the end of the war when the Lord calls His church home victorious.  I am homesick for that land and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I can not, I must not dwell upon that homesickness.  I must be in the battle the Lord has called me to as often as He will allow me.  Are you my friend, in the battle the Lord has called you to?  If you are a child of the King, the only way you will be able to truly sing praises to His wonderful name and lift up His great Kingdom is to be in the battle at hand.