Live Inspection-Ready

August 31, 2021

From today’s reading…

But you, brothers, do not live in the dark, that the Day should take you unawares like a thief. No, you are all children of light and children of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober.”

1 Thessalonians 5:4-6

At the Air Force Academy, we had regular Saturday Morning Inspections (SAMIs).

They were a pain in the butt, but they did teach you the importance of attention to detail because everything had to be clean, in the right place with the right spacing, and even the right angle.

For example, cabinet and vanity doors had to be open at 45 degrees.

Your underwear and socks had to fold a certain way.

Your clothes had to be hung in a certain order.

Your desk drawers had to be open at the correct intervals.

And your bed had to be made to exact specifications.

By the middle of my first year there, I had it down and slept on my bed the night before the inspection, yet others slept on the floor all four years because they didn’t have the ability/confidence to get everything ready in time.

What a way to live, huh?

How can you not master a cleaning/organization process in four years to such a degree that you can’t get things ready in an hour or so?

These cadets lived in the dark and fear because they did not have the discipline to live an orderly life day to day.

They would destroy their rooms regularly, which is why it took them so long—and created so much stress—to prepare for their SAMIs.

We knew SAMIs could be announced at any time. You know “that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night” (v2), so live accordingly.

Keep your house in order, which is the only way to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.

Now go sell something.