{"id":674,"date":"2024-08-20T18:02:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T18:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/?p=674"},"modified":"2024-08-20T18:02:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T18:02:06","slug":"still-a-vital-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/?p=674","title":{"rendered":"Still a Vital Question"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">Still a Vital Question<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">A number of years ago, I had a conversation with a man I had a lot of respect for. He was a war vet. A committed member of the church I was pastoring. A man who had a servant heart. If something needed doing, he was the one to call on.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">We were standing in front of the church discussing where to put a new flagpole the church had voted to install. This was something he had wanted for a long time.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">On the spur of the moment I asked since this was a church, which flag would go on top, the American Flag or the Christian Flag? He looked at me with a very puzzled look and said, \u201cwhy the American Flag of course\u201d.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">He wanted to know why I asked that.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">I said that I was just curious. That usually a flag on top meant that it was the one that had our highest loyalty. Since Jesus was to have our highest loyalty shouldn\u2019t the Christian flag representing faith in Jesus be on top. He <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">emphatically <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">reminded me that that wouldn\u2019t happen.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">I switched my approach and said \u201cWhich is most important, being a good Christian or being a good Citizen? His response was, \u201cI thought they were about the same\u201d.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif;\">I wonder how many Americans would agree with him?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"western\"><p>PS.\u00a0<i>I served in the Marine Reserve 1961 &#8211; 63 and active duty in the US Army from 1963 \u2013 67. Staff Sgt E-6. My dad retired from the Army following service in WW2 and Korea. I had a son who retired from the US Air Force after 20+ years of service with multiple deployments. Just saying!<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Still a Vital Question A number of years ago, I had a conversation with a man I had a lot of respect for. He was a war vet. A committed member of the church I was pastoring. A man who had a servant heart. If something needed doing, he was the one to call on. 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