Battle Assembly

So... yesterday was pretty bad in my service and worship of God. I'm really feeling pulled on whether I want to keep going with the Army Reserve once my contract is up. I've been in the Army for 7 years now. I joined when I was 17 and I've made the rank of Staff Sergeant pretty quickly. I love the Army as an organization. I also love it for several reasons, one of which is because it's been paying for college. I'm now in my final semester at Pitt and I will leave school with less than $3,000 in student loans. I also love the Army because it helped me grow up and become more responsible than ever before.

However, what I don't love is that my battle assemblies (which are once a month) are on a Saturday and Sunday. Those are usually the days that I look forward to recharging my batteries, and Sunday is and always will be the Lord's Day. And it wouldn't be so bad if my duty as a Soldier at least ended when I come home from Army. I am convinced that I'm violating the fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath holy and do no work.

Now that I'm an NCO it's my duty to take on extra responsibilities and look out for other Soldiers. Sometimes this cuts into the rest of Sunday evening. This means I miss out on worshiping God appropriately on 1 out of every 4 Lord's days. That's not setting my priorities right.

I really will have to think thoroughly about what I want to do once this contract is up. I re-enlisted for 6 years when I was in Iraq, so now I have 5 years left. The struggle is that I will have served for 12 years in the Army, only 8 years away from earning retirement benefits. I will lose my Army pension and all kids of benefits... but at the end of the day I really should trust in the Lord to provide.

XYZ123, if you're reading this, I wouldn't mind your comments. In fact, I sincerely welcome them.