Lips Moving Wordlessly
The British war correspondent sat nervously in the eerie glow of the aircraft’s interior red lights. The paratroopers’ faces appeared slightly blue and the tips of their cigarettes white as they joked among themselves and waited. After a sharp turn over the coast the exterior lights and rotating beacons of all the aircraft in the formation were extinguished, giving them a ghostlike quality as they headed out over the Channel toward their Normandy drop zones. The correspondent described the final minutes before this group of men would start the invasion of Europe:
Someone called out: “Ten minutes to go.” The paratroop commander talked quietly to his men. A final briefing. I shall never forget the scene up there in those last fateful minutes, those long lines of motionless, grimfaced young men burdened like pack-horses so that they could hardly stand unaided. Just waiting… So young they looked, on the edge of the unknown. And somehow, so sad. Most sat with eyes closed as the seconds ticked by. They seemed to be asleep, but I could see lips moving wordlessly. I wasn’t consciously thinking of anything in particular, but suddenly I found the phrase “Thy rod and Thy staff” moving through my mind again and again. Just that and no more.420
The apparent tranquility of this scene is betrayed by the many lips “moving wordlessly” in the semidarkness. Who can imagine the inner turmoil of a group of men facing a night parachute drop into enemy territory? The dangers multiply as each man visualizes all that can happen. I have great empathy for the unfortunate souls who had only the cold comfort of their own thoughts in these moments. Fortunately, we know there were many who had a place to go outside themselves. Moving lips is sure evidence that some were seeking God in this fearful moment. Prayer is the only activity I know of that guarantees us a way outside ourselves. We need to build this bridge with God during the quiet times in our lives so that it will be there during those fearful moments when our minds want to multiply the dangers ahead.
Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
—Hebrews 7:24–25