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How do I become a Christian?

Surrender! You can only become a Christian when you raise the white flag and surrender to Christ. Jesus Christ is the God that all Christians worship. He is the one that came from heaven, lived a perfect life and died a gruesome death to pay the penalty for your sins. According to the Bible all people have sinned (Read in the Bible Romans 3:23) and the penalty for sin is death. (Read Romans 6:23) In other words you have blown it with God and your sentence is death. But Jesus Christ stepped in and took your place, dying on a cross, so that you can have your sins forgiven. Our God gave His life so that you would not have to suffer death.

But you can't keep a good man down. Jesus stayed in the grave for only three days. On the third day He displayed His power when he rose back to life again. He walked on earth for weeks after his death and hundreds of people saw the dead man alive again. After that, He returned back to his home in heaven where he is waiting for you.

You become a Christian when God opens your heart and shows you that you desperately need a change. When you finally reach the end of your rope and say, "Okay, God. You win. I have made of mess of my life and now I am ready to turn it over to you."

When that happens a transaction in heaven takes place: when you surrender to Christ God takes every mistake and failure that you have ever committed and casts them away. He completely forgives them. At the same time God gives you credit for the perfect life that Jesus lived. Therefore, when the Christian stands before God in heaven they stand not condemned for their sins and also credited with the perfect sinless life that Christ lived.

Christianity is a journey down the greatest path life can ever take you. It is an epic struggle between good and evil. And God only chooses men and women who can rise up to the challenge and who will be victorious in the greatest battle you will ever enter… the battle for your soul!

If you have never started the journey of life with God then He is calling you to make that commitment right now. God is asking you to bow before Him and declare your unconditional surrender.

You can surrender to Him in the form of this simple prayer.

If you can say that prayer with a sincere heart and you really mean what those words say then God is at work in your life. He stands ready to change you from the person that you were into the person that he wants you to become.

If you made that sincere commitment then there are a couple of things that you need to do. The first and most important is to find a good church that believes the Bible and get involved! Tell them about this decision.

How can I be a Christian and still go to war?

Usually there are several presuppositions that I have to address before I can adequately answer this question.

When people ask me this question, (and I have been asked this question probably one thousand times) they usually tell me that they were always taught that the Bible says "Thou shalt not kill" in the Ten Commandments. (Read Exodus 20:13) However, the best way to translate this word in the English language is Murder. The verse literally says, "do not murder".

Most people instinctively understand the difference between killing and murder. The Bible has many references to killing and murder. It always paints a very severe picture of murder and the Bible directs that the murderer be punished. However, there are many references to killing in the Bible, however it doesn't require punishment for killing.

For those that don't recognize the distinction between killing and murder let me tell you my opinion about the distinction. The difference lies in the heart. Murder is always an act of hate and always comes from an evil heart. Whereas, killing isn't motivated by hate. (Picture in your mind that you are driving home from work. You are being careful and obeying all laws. You drive through an intersection during a green light and out of no where a car to your right drives through a red light and you broadside them. In the accident you sustain cuts and bruises but no serious injuries. However, the force of the accident costs the other driver's life. No matter how you slice it you have just killed another human being. However, no one in their right mind would call what happened murder. One human lived, one human died but the missing ingredient was hate that flows from an evil heart.) This is a simple example of the difference between murder and killing.

The natural question next is what happens on the battlefield? Is it killing or murder? If the difference between killing and murder resides in the heart then this question can be very difficult to answer. If the reason that you are pulling the trigger and "slingin' lead" with the enemies of our country is because you hate them and you want to see as many of them dead as possible then you have probably crossed from killing to murder. However, if you are willing to put your life on the line and take your enemy's life if necessary out of a love for your unit and your nation then I think what you are doing is an act of killing for the greater good of peace and justice.

Therefore, I have no problem standing on the battlefield and telling men to courageously defend themselves, their unit and their nation no matter how many enemy lives that it costs. But I also remind them that only two people know what is really happening deep in their heart while they are doing their nation's duty... them and God.

And one day every person will have to stand before God and give an account for not only their actions but also for the intent of their heart.

So Christians... do your duty but guard your heart!

How can I become a Ranger?

Go talk to an Army recruiter. Join the Army. Volunteer to attend the US Army Airborne School. In Airborne School someone will ask you to volunteer to join the 75th Ranger Regiment.

The Army does award some guaranteed Ranger contracts to soldiers upon enlistment. However, these contracts are very competitive. The guaranteed Ranger contract does not mean that you are guaranteed to become a Ranger. It means that you are guaranteed to get the opportunity to attend the Ranger Indoctrination Program (the selection program to try out to become a Ranger). If you complete the course then you will be selected to serve in a Ranger Battalion.

Rangers have opportunities for a wide variety of military occupation specialties. However, certain positions are much more needed then others. Those specialties are usually Infantry, Communications, Medics, and Fire Support. If these specialties don't appeal to you, ask your army recruiter if the specialty that you are interested in is available in the 75th Ranger Regiment.

If you are already in the Army, talk to your career counselor or retention officer about serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment.

How do I balance being in the military and my family needs?

Okay, this is probably the toughest question that I get asked on a regular basis. I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer here. I certainly don't believe that you can apply a "cookie-cutter" answer to this question.

I hope that you realize that the military isn't the only profession that takes time away from your family. Virtually every profession imaginable takes a commitment of time away from a family. So the principles that I will describe here are transferable to any walk of life.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind when trying to strike a balance between work and family is that your priority will always get the majority of your energy and your attention. Notice that I said energy and attention and not just time. You can devote a lot of time to something and still not put a lot of energy and attention into it. Conversely you can also devote a lot of attention and energy into something without giving it a tremendous amount of your time.

Now apply that principle to family and work. Work demands your time, energy and attention in order to be excellent at whatever you do. At the same time your family demands time, energy and attention in order to be a great spouse, parent or friend. If you cut corners on time, energy or attention at work someone in your office will figure it out and pretty soon you will no longer be the valuable employee that company needs.

The same is true with family. If you give them your time but don't offer them your attention and energy they will quickly start to see that they are taking second place to something else in your life (namely your job).

There will be some periods where your family will demand a lot more time than others. There will also be periods where your profession will demand more time than others.

If you want to strike a good balance give the time and energy necessary to your profession while still saving enough of yourself for your family that you can give them your undivided time, energy and attention.

Many families can live with a spouse who puts in fourteen hour days if they know that they are the absolute center of that spouse's world when they get home from work. However, there are also men and women who put in less than an eight hour day at work and yet come home and immediately go out the door to hang out with friends or tinker around with their latest hobby. Chances are that the first family will stay together much longer than the second family because they know exactly how important they are to the person who gives them the time, energy and attention they deserve.

So my recommendation is that no matter how much your profession demands of you give at least that much of your time, energy and attention to your family. With a lot of hard work and a ton of prayer a family can withstand any professional demands given this kind of commitment.