THE HEAD AND NOT THE TAIL

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“The LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward, if you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am giving you today.” (Deut. 28:13)

My wife and I enjoy visiting an Air Force base about an hour away from our home. Not just any Air Force base, but my former base during my one tour of active duty in the military. And as you might imagine, my wherewithal to visit this base is dependent on having earned a military retirement; another thirty plus years spent in the reserve.

We drove over to MacDill Air Force Base yesterday.

And while we were there, we experienced something different than either of us had ever experienced before. Nothing especially startling to be sure, but so consistent, and so recurring that we spoke about it later.

Our major task yesterday was to pick up our new retired ID cards. I had been notified by email that our old ID cards had been voided, and that we would have to stop by the visitor’s center to pick up a temporary pass; which would allow us entrance into the base. Jean parked our car, we got out, and we went inside. We have been required to stop at the visitor’s center before, for one reason or the other, and I knew that we were likely to encounter a line of people. However, as we walked through the front door, there was no one in front of us. We stepped up to the window and the clerk immediately issued us a temporary pass.

After we exited the building, we drove past a gate security guard, and south on a street adjacent to a bay. After about a mile, we turned down another street which led to the ID card office; (immediately across from the building in which I had worked a half century earlier). Stepping into the ID office, we discovered there was no one else in line. We had our new ID cards in just moments; (as we had filled out the required information on a kiosk monitor a couple of months earlier).

Now we retraced our path to the PX, (the base department store), dismounted our car, walked in, browsed a bit, and picked up a few items for Christmas. As we were checking out, we noticed that the register in front of us was devoid of customers. As a result, we walked right up, and the cashier scanned our purchases.

After we walked out of the store, we decided to get something to eat. I suggested we try Subway in the food court. Walking down the hallway, my wife designated me to step up to the counter and order the sandwich; which we planned to split. Again, I noticed that I was the only one in line, though a couple of soldiers stepped up behind me.

By now we had entered four separate lines in which we had every reason to think would be “covered up” with people during the Christmas season. And in each case, we found ourselves first in line.

As I thought about it later, the scripture with which I began this musing came to mind.

“I will make you the head and not the tail.”

It is wonderful to realize how much our Heavenly Father loves and provides for His children. Yesterday was a poignant reminder of that previous passage of scripture, and our Lord’s intention to make us the head and not the tail.

by William McDonald, PhD