Standing Shoulder to Shoulder

By Bruce Lindsay

My son Clifford loves to play football. In fact he was nominated as Defensive Player of the Year for his league last season. You’d better believe I’m proud of him. He plays Defensive End mostly. (For all you ladies, that’s the same position that the tall graceful football player plays, who is currently on “Dancing with the Stars”.)

Each play the defensive players quickly gather together into a huddle. They clap, grunt, then move to the line and stand shoulder to shoulder. They know that no-matter where the ball is coming on the next play; they will be able to stop it if they stand together.

It reminds me of a couple of other stories. The first, I should tell is from my experience as a Civil War Re-enactor. Before every battle, our soldiers would line up with our rifles. An officer in front of the men would have us count off in 2s. Then the command would come to - RIGHT FACE! When executing that command, the ‘2s’ would take a step to the right as they turn to the right. Then the command would come - FRONT! With that command, everyone would turn back to the officer, only now we would be in 2 rows. RIGHT DRESS would be the next command. Everyone would crowd to their right, where the flag was being held by the “Colour Sergeant” until each soldier was standing shoulder to shoulder. “Touching Elbows” is how officers liked to put it. We were in 2 ranks, because if somebody got shot and fell, a man from the second rank would step up and fill his place. We’d still be shoulder to shoulder.

A group of men, standing shoulder to shoulder, with rifles coming toward you at a slow steady pace will strike fear into the heart of any enemy. Knowing that when they all fire together, you are in-for a hailstorm of bullets - will quickly make you look for cover, or lay down. As the company gets closer, the enemy will see that each man has a bayonet on the business end of the rifle. (A bayonet is a sharp knife, usually a foot long that attaches to the end of the rifle.) Rarely in the war of 1812 or the American Civil War were soldiers found with bayonet wounds. The reason is simple; by the time the troops were close enough to their enemy to bayonet them, and their enemy had skedaddled.

Some of my youth was spent on the Manitoba prairie. A common story there, that was shared to me by my Uncle, is one of the early settlers who tried to “make a go” of farming in this desolate place. It’s an old story about how cattle act in winter storms.

Sometimes the winter storms would take a heavy toll. They would start with freezing rain and snow. Then the temperature would plummet far below zero. The bitterly cold wind would pile up snow in huge snowdrifts. Most cattle would turn their back to the icy wind and move downwind until they came to the inevitable barbed wire fence. In the worst storm, they would pile up against the fence and die by the score.

But one breed always survived. Herefords would instinctively head into the wind. They would stand shoulder to shoulder, heads down, facing the blasts. As my Uncle put it, “You most always found the Herefords alive and well. I guess that’s the greatest lesson I ever learned on the prairies – just face life’s storms.”

I’m thinking of everyone in our church as I write this, including you Pastor Murray (“Dad”), and many others that have prayer requests both spoken and unspoken. I know sometimes you feel alone, but you need to know we’re with you, and praying for you. We’ll stand together, shoulder to shoulder and face the enemy.