How much of a difference can faith make? Let’s consider two figures from military history. For now, we’ll call them Thomas and Irvin.

Thomas is a quiet, unremarkable college professor who wears a shaggy beard and a worn-out jacket. His students don’t care for him much, and his appearance doesn’t exactly win him praise among his colleagues. He is simple, gruff, and through unforeseen circumstances is placed in charge of a ragtag group of inexperienced, untrained, poorly-equipped soldiers. Irvin, on the other hand, is a smooth operator; a well-groomed, well-connected career soldier, who’s risen to the rank of general thanks to friends high up in the State Department. He’s a man of imposing stature, with a sharp mind full of ambition for higher office and grand plans to vanquish the enemy.

As a commander, Irvin spends his time among his advisers dreaming big and drumming up a bold strategy to defeat the enemy in one stroke—good for publicity. Thomas, however, spends his time training his men, instilling a sense of order. At first, the men despise him for it, but they soon respect and love their leader, who’s given them a valuable asset that counterbalances their lack in equipment and experience. They have acquired discipline, which paves the way for bravery.

After months of maneuvering, the battle finally begins. At first, the forces commanded by Irvin smash all before them. They march through the forests and hills, unstoppable in their military might. The strategy works well, until they run into the troops led by Thomas. This unbecoming and unlikely general has taken a strong position, and his numerically inferior force weathers blistering artillery and gunfire. Then, they return with their own, which at first stops Irvin’s advance, then starts to roll it back. Irvin’s forces scatter; retreat turns to rout. 

Standing at the center of all this fighting is Thomas, Thomas J. Jackson more properly. He will come to be known after this battle as “Stonewall” Jackson. The battle is famously known as the battle of First Manassas, or Bull Run. Throughout the American Civil War, the generals Irvin McDowell and Stonewall Jackson will meet, and Jackson will outdo him time and again. While McDowell’s legacy is largely one of incompetence, Jackson is remembered as an incredibly effective leader, marked foremost by his utter fearlessness in the face of violence.

What lay at the core of the man? Consider one episode recorded in a biography of Jackson by S.C. Gwynne: In a conversation between Jackson said a junior officer, the general was asked “How is that you can keep so cool, and appear so utterly insensible to danger in such a storm of shell and bullets as rained about you when your hand was hit?” Jackson looked at the young man and replied,

“Captain, my religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.”

However flawed his cause, pay attention to his words. We live in fearful times, and we need brave men and women. If you don’t consider yourself a Christian, I implore you to trust your end to Christ, who has fixed the time for our deaths and graciously offers us life beyond it. If you do call yourself a Christian, we’ve been given a good mission from Jesus himself to make disciples. May we be equally brave in its undertaking.