TO BUILD, NOT DESTROY

By Kenneth Dauer, McPherson, KS

In looking back on my alternative service with the Church of the Brethren, one simple thought stood out.  So I submit my reason for entering Brethren Volunteer Service in these words:

If there be a God who says,
“Love your enemies,”
I would have broken his law
When man asked me to kill.
It would have been my task
To weed good men from bad,
To select those I would put to death.
In my hands would have laid
The power of life or death
For the men across the line.
And I do believe in that God of love.
That’s why I give my life to build
And not to destroy;
To love and not to hate.

(Printed in The Gospel Messenger, 5-12-1966)