It Ain’t Easy to Do What’s Right

Brent Tantillo • October 27, 2009 • Uncategorized

I was struck by this daily devotion prepared by Pastor Ken Klaus of the Lutheran Hour Ministries:

As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 2 Thessalonians 3:13

Jarrette Schule owns some property in Comal County, Texas.

It was while he was cutting some trees on that semi-remote piece of property that Schule came across something that looked like a missile launcher.

Actually, it was a missile launcher, its identity being determined by the words on the side of the weapon that said, “Guided Missile and Launcher, Surface Attack.”

Sure enough, Schule had found a Dragon surface-to-surface missile. It’s the kind of missile, which, when a soldier points it at an enemy’s tank, it makes the tank and the enemy go away.

Being a good citizen, Schule tried to turn the missile in to the authorities. That’s when his story got interesting.

Schule called the FBI; the FBI didn’t want it. He called Homeland Security. They didn’t want it. He called the sheriff and every agency he could think of. He talked to the military police at Fort Sam Houston, but their authority didn’t extend beyond the base. Nobody wanted the weapon.

Finally, and at long last, Schule’s request was passed on to an Army criminal investigator who, along with an ordinance disposal team from Lackland Air Force Base, picked up the weapon that was, at that point in time, sitting on Schule’s dining room table.

When I read Schule’s story last week, I was impressed by how hard it was for him to do the right thing. I know a lot of folks who would have said, “forget it,” and thrown the launcher in the dumpster. I am acquainted with more than one person who would have been glad to use the launcher at a Fourth of July celebration.

But Schule didn’t get tired of trying to do the right thing, and we shouldn’t either. That’s what St. Paul said to the church in Thessalonica.

After all, we have a Savior who in spite of being hated, mocked, misunderstood, and rejected, still gave Himself as the ransom that buys our forgiveness and earns our salvation.

In short, we have a Savior who didn’t tire of doing the right thing. It is an example we should follow. It’s the right thing to do and more importantly; it’s the Christian thing to do.

As a Christian, I agree with Pastor Klaus, but this is a secular blog. And therefore, I implore those who aren’t Christian and don’t follow the reasoning of this message to adopt its message from a citizen’s perspective; that what Jarrette Schule did was the patriotic thing to do. What’s more disturbing though is where were those government agencies? As a federal prosecutor, we have programs in Miami, where law enforcement will take back weapons no questions asked. Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances, but that seems like a good approach to me in Texas and elsewhere too.

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