It was sixty-seven years ago. It was on a Sunday. It was December 7, 1941. It was, our president would say the next day, “a date which will live in infamy.”
On the sixtieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I read an article by an Associated Press writer by the name of Paul Grassley. The first sentence of his article caught my attention. Seven years later, I am still disturbed by it. See what you think about it: “The attack on Pearl Harbor 60 years ago caught Americans in idle Sunday pursuits and changed many of them forever.”
My concern with his opening sentence really involves the placement of just one word. If he had just put the word “many” somewhere else in that opening sentence (or used it twice), the sentence might leave a different impression than it does. It is definitely true that many Americans’ lives were changed forever on that Sunday years ago. It is definitely not true that all Americans were involved in “idle Sunday pursuits.”
To be sure, some were. No doubt, many were relaxing, enjoying some recreation, getting caught up with some odd jobs, visiting relatives, etc. They were, indeed, involved in “idle Sunday pursuits.”
However, all across this great nation of ours, there were people who were definitely not involved in any pursuit that could be described as idle. Their pursuit involved a closer relationship with and knowledge about God.
On that Sunday morning, sixty-seven years ago, the first ship was struck at 7:56 a.m. (Hawaii time). Given the different time zones and the fact that the attack lasted about three hours, Americans in different parts of the country were either preparing for, involved in or finished with a time of worshiping the Lord on His day.
I, for one, am thankful for them and for those of our present time who honor the Lord by worshiping Him on His day and by living for Him each day. The world may see their (our) choices as simplistic, uninformed or just plain dumb, but on that last great day, those who did not choose to use Sundays in idle pursuits will be much happier than those who did.
[Editor’s Note: While practicing Christians may find themselves involved in odd jobs, relaxing, recreation or visiting relatives – even on the Lord’s Day, all of this is secondary to and at other times than worshipping our God in His own appointed way (John 4:24) upon each first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2). Faithful Christians have their priorities correctly ordered (Matthew 6:33). ~ Louis Rushmore]
