Over the last year or so, I have been very blessed to form a relationship with the SCV’s Chaplain Corps. This is due to the fact that the majority of my work focuses on the positive role of religion in the Civil War. These men of God have dedicated themselves to not only preserving and presenting the history of their ancestors, but also spreading the Gospel.

Every month I receive their newsletter titled the “Chaplains’ Corps Chronicles of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.” Each issue includes wonderful stories, sermons, and insights that deal with the subject of Christianity during the War Between the States. The publication’s editor, a fine southern gentleman named H. Rondel Rumburg, included excerpts from some letters in the January 2008 edition that seem appropriate for a new year:

Confederate Chaplains were very aware that time was a gift of God and it was of a limited quantity. A good example of this is found in the diary of Chaplain William Edward Wiatt of the 26th Virginia Infantry. He chronicled it this way:

Thursday, December 31st, 1863, Visited &c. received a letter (61st) from my beloved wife, in which she said that she had a hemorrhage; my heart is made sad by this information; Oh! that God may give her and myself faith in Himself and resignation to His Divine will; Brother Geo. F. Bagby came to our Regiment today; he and I attended a prayer meeting in Captain Owen’s Company; both of us made exhortations; this is the last day of the year; how much goodness has God exhibited towards me and towards our Regiment during the year; how deep and lasting the obligations under which we are placed to love and serve Him; how little have I done for His cause; how ungrateful have I been in the midst of His manifold mission; how unworthy of the least of His favors; Oh! Lord, forgive my sins and help me to love Thee more and to serve Thee better.

Clearly in his reflections, his relationship to God in time was on his mind, along with his wife’s illness.  Thus he tells how he marked the last day of 1863.  Wiatt realized his blessings and acknowledged them to the Lord; he accepted responsibility for not living up to the standard due unto the Lord and desired forgiveness.  Then consider what he said about the first day of the New Year:

Friday, January 1st, 1864, This day begins a new year; may I begin with it to serve God afresh; Oh Lord help me and all who profess thy name to love Thee more than ever, to live nearer to Thee than ever, and to do more for Thy Cause than ever this year; may Thy Gospel have free course now and be glorified more than ever this year; may this be the year when our independence shall be wrought out and peace established if it be God’s holy will; Brother Bagby and myself went to Charleston this morning; we called on Brother Winkler, who treated us very kindly; I got 25 Confederate Hymnals, a bundle of Tracts and 20 Testaments; (I gave $5 of the Regimental fund for the Testaments); returned in evening; attended a prayer meeting in Captain Spencer’s Company; tent full and meeting quite interesting; several of us made exhortations.

Chaplain Wiatt understood that every day was, and still is, a gift. He also understood the task that lay before him. My resolution is to follow the good chaplain’s calling and embrace more opportunities in 2008 to share the Good News of the Gospel, while also finding a way to balance both my secular and Christian work as one will inevitably feed the other. More readers = more believers. This will come through my new devotional book, Christian radio spots, and who knows what else.  It's going to be a great year!

I also pledge to strengthen my family's walk with Christ. My wife and I have just signed up for a special course at our church for married couples. In our 21-years together this will be the first time that we ever participated in the same Bible study group. I'm anxious to see what happens. 

Source: Wiatt letter excerpts taken from the January 2008 issue of the Chaplains’ Corps Chronicles of the Sons of Confederate Veterans