I will stay with you

It is no small wonder that I never joined the US military. The armed forces stress every quality that represents my core beliefs: discipline, self-discipline, order, loyalty, self-service, nationalism. It is saddening to think that fear of death somehow trumped other qualities I deem important. I will instead hide behind the truth that it simply wasn't His calling for me.

Today is the 231st birthday of the US Marine Corps. Of all the branches of the military, this would have been the one I would have considered joining -- for its history, and for its central creed: semper fi or more fully, semper fidelis, always faithful.

It is the heart of Christianity. Recently heard that faithfulness was the attribute of God most-represented throughout Scripture. It is the bedrock of the faith: that if we are faithful to Him, He is faithful to us. Lord asks us as brothers and sisters to be faithful to each other. And in the Marines, you have a unit instructed to and trained to always have that sense of loyalty to one another and to country and to God. If you've ever witnessed Marines greeting each other with that magnificent motto, a knowing look of brotherhood and faithfulness exchanged in look as well as word, you'll know that today's birthday is something of more importance than just a token celebration.