Cornerstone

Exodus 17:9-16 (15)

Navy officer, Lt. Commander Mike Christian was one of the brave but unfortunate POW’s during the Vietnam war. One day he began to gather pieces of red and white cloth. He used a piece of bamboo to make a needle and laboriously sewed a United States flag on the inside of his blue prison shirt.

Each night the naval officer would take his shirt off and hang it on the wall. The prisoners would all stand proudly before it, salute and say the pledge of allegiance.

One day the guards happened to come into the prison cell as the prisoners recited the pledge. The flag was torn from the wall. The man without a shirt was the obvious culprit. Mike Christian was dragged from the cell and was beaten for hours.

Later after the prisoners were asleep, Mike set under the lone light bulb in the cell. Around him were the scraps of white and red cloth. He was again sewing an American flag into his shirt.

Following the battle against the Amalekites, Moses built an altar of allegiance. He named it Jehovah Nissi which means God is my banner. The altar symbolized his allegiance but in reality we need no artificial remembrance. God alone is our banner. It is under His standard that we live and move and have our being.

Dr. Gayle Woods