1 KINGS 17:2-7 DRY BROOK UNIVERSITY

Intro: Boot camp: for those who have served in the military, it is a place that they well remember. For many, it was their first time away from home. It was a time of brutal discipline, unending work, regimented training, cold fear and acute loneliness. Yet, it is in boot camp that soldiers are born. A soldier would never be able to serve on the battlefield unless he has first been through the training of boot camp. In boot camp, soldiers have their self-will striped away. They lose any rebellion that may in their heart. They learn to follow every order from a superior without  question. They learn to follow their leader, even to death, if necessary.Of course, the positive side of all the training, the discipline and the pressure is that the soldier grows stronger, more disciplined and more mature. He is transformed from a common man into a battleready soldier. You might say that boot camp is much like enrolling in a compressed university program. The soldier learns much in his short time there. However, what he learns in boot camp is essential to his survival on the battlefield.