The Soldier
A snow storm was raging outside the cabin.
She heard something like scraping at the door.
She did not want to let something bad in.
Yet, she knew, she could do no more.
She opened the door and a man fell in.
It was a soldier, covered with snow & ice.
He said “I could have been enemy then.”
She said “No, cause you knocked nice.”
Puzzled, He got up & brushed off the snow.
He was a soldier, trained from the womb.
War and killing was his only goal.
“I am here to protect you from the enemy doom.”
“Are you living here alone?,” he shivered.
“Yes,” she said. “My husband died long ago.”
“This war could last the rest of winter.”
“I may be here that long before I go.”
“You are welcome to stay. Do you need food?”
“I haven’t eaten in a day or so.”
She busied herself preparing some food.
He barred the door. No one would go.
“Why do you live way out here all alone?”
“My husband was a trapper. I stayed on.”
“He was killed in an avalanche.”
“I stayed here after he was gone.”
“How do you live in this circumstance?”
“I trap too. Sell the furs in the fall.”
“It gets lonely at times, but I love it here.”
Then they heard a noise outside. A call.
They both knew the enemy was near.
A bang on the door & the soldier fired .
They heard a thump on the door outside.
A moan was heard like someone was tired.
The woman went to look outside.
The soldier said “NO.” He indicated silence.
No other sound was heard outside.
The woman opened the door in defiance.
An enemy soldier laid there wounded.
The woman grabbed him & drug him in.
The soldier went to shoot him
The woman stopped him. “This is sin.”
“I am a soldier. it is my duty.”
“He is wounded. I will help him.”
“You cannot aide the enemy.” he said.
“I will help anyone hurt in my home.”
The soldier went to sit on the bed.
She dressed his wounds then he moaned.
“Why are you helping me?” he said.
“We are all equal under God” she stated.
“Love your enemy as yourself.”
Both soldiers were shocked at such statements.
She lifted the wounded soldier into bed herself.
The soldier kept fading in & out of consciousness.
the other soldier said “I think he’s dying.”
She said “He stopped bleeding. He was found with this.”
She held up a cross on a chain. She was crying.
“I don’t understand. What’s that mean?”
She explained the cross and what it meant.
“ I have never heard this. It could cause a scene.”
“If soldiers followed such rules, they would recant.”
“Their pledge to be a soldier would be useless.”
“Listen to the Holy Spirit as it speaks to you”
The soldier squirmed. His cause felt fruitless.
In a few days the wounded soldier died.
Before dying, he asked for forgiveness from God.
The soldier was shocked. “What?”, he cried.
She said “He made peace with his God”
They buried him with rocks and snow.
The woman said a prayer over him.
The soldier was confused. He wanted to know.
She explained the principle of sin.
For a few months she gave him Bible lessons.
He rebelled at first, then something happened.
As the Holy Spirit convicted his heart during sessions,
he began to see the truth. And he confessed bad sins.
He knelt and asked for forgiveness.
He was converted. Jesus was his Lord now.
“What will you do now?” she asked with firmness.
“I will resign my position & follow the Lord somehow.”
As he left in the spring, he said “I will see you again soon.”
In the fall he returned to her.
He took her in his arms & her heart swooned.
He was a new soldier now. That was sure.
A soldier in God’s army saving souls
He would fight side by side with her.
God and her, wherever he goes.
————————————————-R. W. Johnson—–(2013).