Books and Bomber Planes
I love to read. I'm an only child, and I loved reading even when I was growing up. Books have always been my friends. Even though I was raised in a loving home, I tried running away once when I was young like many children do. I was probably around three years old. I grabbed the small suitcase that I often packed when visiting my grandparents, and I filled it with clean underwear and a book. (I will have to ask my counselor friend what that says about me!) I suppose I knew I would need a friend on my trip into the world.
Now, long separated from the Little Golden Books of the 1970s, I am embracing the offerings of virtual libraries. My goodness, I wish I had done it during the lockdown last year. In the past few months, I have checked out digital books, audiobooks, and music selections. I have even learned how to place things on hold – without bothering a single librarian! I get materials from four different places, juggling them while working through a 20-book series. I feel like I am working on an algebra problem, ensuring that I can check out the right books in order. It's much more fun than algebra, though. Trust me.
One of my current selections is an audiobook about the beginnings of the Army Air Corps. It is a fascinating collaborative offering that mixes history and storytelling with soundbites from interviews and World War II-era training films. One of my grandfathers was in the Army Air Corps, and I am enjoying the stories told about the leaders of the Air Force's forerunner.
One of the big debates in the Air Corps was something I had not thought about – the effectiveness (and even the need) for an armed force that would take to the skies. Planes were used sparingly in World War I, many of them made from cloth and wood, with machine guns that were timed not to shoot propellers off and pilots who dropped their own bombs. Literally. By hand over the side of the cockpit!
By World War II, the debate over bomber planes grew hot, with some hailing them as tools that could stop the horrors of war and the after-effects of shell shock (now called PTSD). On the other side was the idea that planes would never replace infantry. It just would not happen.
From there, military minds further debated different types of bombing. One camp proposed to have as many planes and as many bombs as possible, dropping them over as much territory as possible. The other camp had a more delicate approach. Instead of the wholesale destruction of an area, why not pinpoint factories, supply lines, and services that the army and the populace relied upon? It would take fewer munitions, and it might even be more effective in stopping the other side's war machine. An army without a weapons factory cannot fight for long, after all.
For the LORD your God will be with you, fighting on your behalf against your enemies in order to grant you victory.
Deuteronomy 20:4
While listening to the discussions, I realized that the enemy uses pinpoint tactics in spiritual warfare against us. Sometimes, if the enemy comes at us like a full-scale bombing, we gather our people, dig in, and hold on. We are quite aware bombs are dropping around us, and we get determined to fight back.
But, what happens when the enemy uses pinpoint tactics against us? Maybe he takes out a factory (our church relationships) or a supply line (our prayer life). He does it little by little, and we don't recognize that we are actually under an attack. As he takes away things we rely on, we slowly get weaker and weaker.
I haven't finished the bomber book yet, but I know that carpet bombing mostly disappeared after Viet Nam. The impressive stealthy bombers in service today can drop bombs down chimneys their pilots can't even see with the naked eye. These planes haven't replaced the infantry, but the effectiveness of modern bombers and drones have certainly changed the way wars are waged.
Pay attention to the spiritual war that is raging around you. Check your provisions, your weapons, and your supply lines. And even in the times you may not have clean underwear, be sure you have a book – the Word of God. Keeping that Word in your heart and mind will build your radar and help you prepare for sneak attacks. Stay alert, stay strong.
