The Pastor’s Pen (The Very Rev. Dr. Curtis Crenshaw, Th.D.) Why Me?
I was a happy 21 year old, attending college and bowling on the weekends, with virtually no bills, living at home, hardly a care in the world. I’ll never forget the day. The mail came, and usually there was nothing for me, so I normally took it inside and put it on the table. But this day I noticed a letter that looked official and had my name on the front. I opened it. The month was sometime in September, 1966, and it had that official “Greeting” that made my stomach sink. I was being drafted into the Army. I could not understand why, since I was in college with a student deferment with acceptable grades. But the Bible college registrar said checked into it, and discovered that I could not change majors from Electrical Engineering to a Bible college. They considered that to be draft dodging, trying to prolong my student deferment from the draft with a different major. Actually, the plan was to take one year of Bible and then finish the E. E. major. I was dumbfounded. Why me, Lord? I thought you would like for me to attend a Bible college. Don’t you know that Vietnam is hot these days? Don’t you know that I might have to go to war? I was allowed to complete that semester, and then in the middle of February 1967, I reported to the Federal Building in downtown Memphis to be taken to Ft. Benning, GA where I would have basic training. My life completely changed. After about ten days of orientation, heads shaved, arms full of shots, I was driven to the other side of the base to begin basic training. I never heard so much screaming and orders given out—I thought my mother was bad! I was fatigued in body and mind most of the time, and after basic I thought I would get leave to go home. No. I was taken directly from basic training to Advanced Infantry Training (A.I.T.) at Ft. Jackson, SC without leave. I was to have another intensive two months training. What about Vietnam? The first orientation we had at Ft. Jackson, our new company commander spoke to all of us from the microphone. He said: “I don’t want to keep anything from you. I will be honest. You’re wondering if you’re going to Vietnam or not. Yes, that is why you’re here, so make the most of your training. Your life and lives of your buddies will depend on how well trained you are. Listen to your instructors; they are the best we have.” My heart sank worst than when I received the draft letter. To make matters worse, my roommate’s father worked in the Pentagon, and he got his son out of war. I was nobody; I had to go. I had one month leave in Memphis, TN, then I was taken by commercial aircraft to Ft. Dix, NJ to be processed to go to Vietnam. Within five months of being drafted, I arrived in a country that I had hardly heard about. I had a year to serve there, and then would return home, if I lived. I was in the infantry, and those were not good odds. Why me? It seemed that the Lord was wasting two years of my time. I was frustrated, fearful that I might not return, sometimes angry, and yet God had given me a measure of faith. What was the point of it all? To this day I cannot tell you the whole reason why God sent me to Vietnam, but I can tell you part of it. I was not disciplined, did not have my life headed in a godly direction (wanted to bowl, not study). In Vietnam, my whole life was turned around. I wanted to read the Bible all the time and pray. I considered that my life was the Lord’s to do with as He wanted. When I returned home, I never returned to Electrical Engineering, but went back to the Bible college, this time with good grades, and from there four more years in seminary. I’ve never looked back. I learned a lesson (actually many lessons). We must learn to trust God’s providence. We may not know the reasons why God does something, but make no mistake He has good reasons! So, why me? God’s word says: • And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). This verse does not say that all things are good, but that God makes them work together, for good. God worked a different plan in my life than what I had designed, it was a better plan, and that is why me. Amen. ?
