Attendance is rather low on Wednesday nights, so many of you probably missed this.

You see, Mr Mo has been teaching the class and we've been flushing out the minor prophets. A couple weeks ago I had to laugh because he put a spin on Habakkuk that I have never considered before but, in reflection, not only makes sense but makes *perfect* sense. Before we get into that though I want to consider a junior US Naval office who happened to be stationed in China in 1901.

It's not likely you ever heard of Lt William S. Simms, and he certainly wasn't someone of any great importance. Back in those days just like today the navy would circulate its own official goings-on, and Lt Simms heard the target practice scores were dismal. Dismal as in about 10 hits on target for every 100 shots fired. Now, these aren't little events like Army beat Navy in football this year but it seemed to him folks were treating it that way. He wrote several letters to the Navy Department, asking what all was being done about it. Of course they were ignored, or the response was it was none of his concern, brighter minds are working on the problem, etc. After a while William got a little frustrated so he wrote a letter to then president Teddy Roosevelt.

The letter hit Washington like a broadside from a battleship, and the military minded occupant of the oval office had the fleet perform special maneuvers and target practice to see for himself. The score was 13 out of 100, at a time when the Royal Navy was logging scores at 80-85. The response was immediate: "Cable to China and have that young man come home at once! Give him entire charge of target practice for eighteen months. If he doesn't accomplish something in that time, cut off his head and try somebody else!"

Do you suppose he got his head removed? Of course not - and the navy went all the way up to # 1 in marksmanship, scoring consistent 90+ hits out of 100. You may think that's the end of my little story but it's not. Lt Simms also suggested improvements to guns, improved modern battleships, and a slew of other things. In 1908 the white fleet was formed of these modern, accurate gunned ships and completed a peaceful world cruise to "show off" the new US talent. Many folks were watching, in particular a Kaiser and a Japanese Emperor. Samoa, Venezuela, and a couple other South American countries owe their existence to William Simms, but that's a story for another day.

The thing is, he could have sat back and done nothing. He could have not pestered the Navy Department. He could have just quietly served his time, done his tour of duty, and let someone else take care of it. Instead he appealed to a higher power, and even though he faced professional wrath he backed up his talk with deeds. Eventually his stepping up would shape the face of the entire world. Pretty awesome for someone you likely never heard of before!

Now about that Habakkuk. Yeah, he's one of those minor prophets who wrote one of those "little bitty books" in moldy old testament scripture. Why should we care about that?

Because HE cared. He saw the sin around him, he saw the corrupt priests, the unjust rulers. Rulers of Judah, who should have been taking care of the sin of the people. No one was doing anything. So of course he appealed to a higher power - God. And God says don't worry Habakkuk - I'm going to crush Judah with Chaldeans. Habakkuk has something neat to say about that - I'm your man, God, and I will stand ready to serve. The thing was, he didn't just sit back and do nothing. So the next time we say "God, someone should do something about this!" perhaps we should look in the mirror and say "Hello, someone!"

Randy