He Looked Like A Soldier To Me!

He Looked Like A Soldier To Me!Dr. Vince Hefner, PastorFirst Baptist ChurchCherryville, North CarolinaThere are certain words in our vocabulary that have an undeserved bad reputation. Take for example the word, “ignorance.” When most people use this word in describing someone else, it is seen as an insult. One definition of ignorance is “not aware, lacking or displaying a lack of education or knowledge.” In other words, ignorance is simply not knowing about a particular subject. It has been said that unless you are willing to admit your ignorance (not knowing about a particular subject), you will never be able to get the knowledge you need to shake off ignorance in your life. It is an important step in the life of any person to admit his or her intellectual limitations on any subject. I am always uneasy around people who know everything about everything. These are the people who know the least and who can say it the loudest!A few years ago I took my family to a convention in St. Louis, Missouri. I have been in some big cities, but I knew I was out of my comfort zone when I rolled into good ole St. Louis. My father-in-law had made reservations for us at a fancy downtown hotel where he any my mother-in-law were staying. Don’t misunderstand me, I have made reservations in hotels, but I have always looked for the lowest price. You know you are at a cost cutting hotel when they don’t even provide a cart to help you with luggage, or the outdoor pool has no water because it hasn’t rained, and the indoor pool is your bathtub! That’s my kind of hotel!The hotel my father-in-law had reserved was top of the line. It was located in downtown St. Louis, and just for information sake, the outdoor pool was on top of the building, and it had water in it! When we pulled up to the hotel, men were standing on the sidewalk to help us with our luggage. I noticed a man wearing a uniform telling people what to do. He was wearing a hat that matched his uniform, and people would go up to him and ask him questions, and then they would slip him money. I’m being honest - I thought he was a soldier. I had never seen a uniform quite like his, but maybe he was in the French Foreign Legion. When I walked past him I didn’t know if I should nod, offer to shake his hand, or salute him. I did what any ignorant person would do, I ignored him!St. Louis is such a big and beautiful city that I almost forgot about that soldier in front of the hotel. I figured he was collecting money to get back to his unit, probably in France. After a few days I noticed he was still hanging around, so I asked my father-in-law about the soldier. He told me he hadn’t seen a soldier, and when I described him to my father-in-law, he patiently explained the man was not a soldier, but an employee of the hotel. He told me the name that man was called, and it did sound French, but it did not mean soldier. Apparently, it was this man’s job to know information about St. Louis, and when people asked him a question, they would give him some money. I would like a job like that! You stand in front of a nice hotel in a sharp uniform, and strangers give you money to answer questions about your town!