A New Conservation Corps

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 11]

     In the economic depression which began thirty years ago, our nation took drastic steps to aid recovery. One such step was organization of the Civilian Conservation Corps. This enlisted young men who were walking the streets and banded them into a group to help conserve and salvage natural resources. They planted shelter belts across the prairies, replanted thinning forests, and helped on flood control projects. In addition to the good accomplished for the country, they benefitted by working with each other, by the discipline of labor, and development of physical strength. Today, in the midst of economic plenty, we suffer from a moral depression. To conserve our spiritual resources, all who are concerned need to constitute a corps of diligent workers. We need to become a spiritual CCC, with the following:

1. Courage. We need men with courage to think for themselves. Regimentation is suicide for the spirit; conformity may mean the end of spiritual growth. We need courage to speak and to act. Freedom unused will soon be abused. Liberty requires exercise to stay alive. Transformed lives resulting from reformed hearts will keep us from becoming deformed and dwarfed.
2. Commitment. The battle of life is the only one which can be won by absolute and complete surrender. Too many merely play at being religious. Religion is secondary with them. It is merely one facet of life, and not life itself. Consecration to Christ involves a genuine crucifixion of our old way of existence, and a burial of our previous self never to be resurrected again. The way of the cross leads home. Any other way leads from the home of the soul. The life that counts is the life that is undivided, wholly committed, so that it is lost to us. "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
3. Courtesy. We live in a complex world. Men differ in ability, understanding and interpretation. We cannot ride roughshod over their hearts. The soldiers of God are not storm troopers or shock troops. We must deal with those who

   [Page 12]

   differ kindly, considerately, and in love. Discourtesy, anger and the party spirit will not lead others to the right; they only reveal what is wrong with ourselves. "The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle, patient, apt to teach, in meekness instructing who oppose themselves." These things -- courage, commitment, courtesy -- will make of you a real member of God's conservation corps of the spirit.