Bronze Wall

There comes a time in the life of many Christians I have met when a particular verse of Scripture seems to pop right out of the Bible, plant itself insolubly within that person's life, and take root as the growing seed of their self-perception. In contemporary evangelicalism this experience is called finding one's "life-verse".

There are times throughout history when God chooses to give someone their new identity by changing their name in the course of their relationship. Abram becomes Abraham. Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul, Simon becomes Peter. In each instance the new name is chosen because its meaning enhances the aspect of their personality that God wants them to forever be known for: Abraham "Father of a Multitude", Paul "Humbled", Peter "the Rock".

For a very long time I felt my "life-verse" to be Joshua 1:9: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." In the past few years, however, there has been another verse that I cannot shake from my mind (even if I tried to), and I think this verse is God's way of renaming me.

While in Fort Knox training to become a Cavalry Scout, I randomly turned to this verse once during a chapel service. It spoke to me clearly then and still reverberates in my consciousness now:

Jeremiah 15:19-20
Therefore thus says the LORD:
"If you return, I will restore you,
And you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not
What is worthless,
You shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
But you shall not turn to them.
And I will make you to this people
A fortified wall of bronze;
They will fight against you
But they shall not prevail over you,
For I am with you
To save you and deliver you,
Says the Lord."

There are five things that stood out to me immediately and now reading this:
-Restoration of who I was created to be will happen when I give myself fully to God.
-Sound speech will be my trademark if I learn to utter what is valuable and refrain from the rest.
-I will have people's attention, so I have to be firm in who I am and not compromise for them.
-There will certainly be people or circumstances that try to stop me from being who I am. They will fail, not by my merits, but because God is for me.
-By myself I am "Hedges", signifying a tangly obstacle that can be cut or burned. In God I can become a "Bronze Wall", immovable, unbreakable, and infinitely more preferrable to a hedge when protecting those within my borders.

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On a side note, it's now a little over three weeks until I commission as a Second Lieutenant. I don't suppose I can still call my blog "Charlie In-Transit" if I'm no longer going to be a "Charlie". Time will vindicate whether God does make me a Bronze Wall or not. I can't change my own name. But I can change the name of my blog. That is one circumstance I do have control over.