It was day eight of a ten day summer exercise that our battalion was conducting at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. In a few weeks we would deploy to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. I was the company commander in charge of the logistics trains. It wasn't a very glamorous job, but when you have the choice of being the commander or working on the staff, you always take the command job, even if it's for Headquarters and Service Company. I was displacing the main element of the logistic trains to a position near the beach where we would probably set up for the night. By displacing the main element, I mean I was dragging along all of the people and equipment required to support a Battalion Landing Team ashore. We had contact teams for vehicles and weaponry, cooks and field kitchens, water, MRE's, ammunition, and fuel. With proper dispersion, this convoy extended for more than a mile.
The day had been fairly uneventful when I noticed a pop-up flare about two kilometers to my southwest. This was about the area where Alpha Company should have been advancing, so I herringboned the vehicles off of the road and switched one of the radios to the rifle company's frequency. Sure enough, the company had contact and was in the attack.
About that same time my gunnery sergeant pointed to where we had seen the flare moments earlier. Smoke was billowing and some flames were visible even at this distance. Holding the radio handset to one ear, I reached into my cargo pocket and pulled out my map. Alpha Company had ceased its part of the exercise and had already turned to firefighting. The gunny held the map down on the hood of the jeep and we agreed on an alternate route for our vehicles if the fire got out of control. I drove off to where Alpha Company and the fire were.
I was at the company position in just under three minutes and the flames were already reaching high into the North Carolina pine trees. Marines were trying to beat back the flames with entrenching tools and flak vests. Only moments later the base fire department arrived. The fire chief asked alpha company to back off of the fire. He would let it burn until he could fight it at one of the established fire breaks. In these few short minutes the fire had spread to at least a kilometer in width.
I returned via the route which I came and found that our previous position had been vacated as I had discussed with the gunnery sergeant. Our new route was about twelve kilometers farther than our original, but would eventually loop back to an intersection near where the fire was headed. We picked up our speed to close with the company. A few minutes later, my company gunnery sergeant called me with the news that he had arrived at the new position and was accounting for all Marines and equipment. As my driver and I came near the intersection where we would make our final turn, the view of the fire was spectacular. It covered most of our horizon and was consuming the dry vegetative fuel in all directions. Silhouetted against this wall of orange and red that approached us was a refueler--my refueler.
The gunny and I arrived at this vehicle at about the same time. We both looked in the cab and there was no driver. As we glanced at the fire trying to estimate its closure rate with the refueler, we saw the Marine who had been driving the truck walking towards us. We could already feel the heat from the flames where we were standing, but I suspected they were no match for the gunny's temper. I said only, "don't kill him until we move this truck."
The gunny lashed out at the young Marine with some words that would have probably started a fire if there weren't one already in progress. The innocence of the Marine's response was debilitating. He said that he had never seen a fire that big and had to get a picture of it. The gunny eventually got back into the rhythm of his chewing out and this Marine's moment of epiphany was physically obvious when he was told to move his gas station out of the way of the fire.
As the Marine drove off towards our new position, the gunnery sergeant and I had one of those rare moments of silent communication where it is all you can do to keep from laughing. The fire was put out in about an hour. There are enough sandy areas at Camp Lejeune to make some substantial fire breaks and the base fire department really did know their business. No one was injured and the Marine driving the refueler got off with the on the spot reprimand he had received from the gunny, as far as any official disciplinary action goes that is. The ribbing he got from his fellow Marines in jest stuck with him much longer than the gunny's fierce words.
James warns us of what the tongue can do. He warns us of the evil and poison that reside in the tongue. He tells us that while man has tamed many creatures, he has yet to tame the tongue. James is not finding fault with a body part, but with the delivery mechanism of what is in our hearts. If we have not let the seeds of the word of God grow in our hearts, then the words that come quickly from our mouths may have their roots in evil. James makes analogy to a small spark that sets fire to a whole forest. Rumor and gossip do spread like wildfire, but unlike their metaphorical reference, they have no redeeming value. The Marine driving the truck surely deserved admonishment, but sometimes we are shocked at the words that can come out of us.
James concludes this discussion much like he begins--with a challenge. How can a salt spring produce fresh water? How can we speak the words that God desires if we have evil in our heart? Taming the tongue begins in our hearts.
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. James 3:1-12 (NIV)
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