[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen-surround":58},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":41,"date":42,"description":16,"extension":43,"image":44,"meta":45,"minRead":46,"navigation":47,"path":48,"postType":49,"publication":50,"publicationUrl":44,"seo":51,"stem":52,"topics":53,"__hash__":57},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen.md","More than Watchmen",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":38},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,29,32,35],[14,15,16],"p",{},"It was like trying to sleep on a block of ice. On our way to Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, my family had set up a tiny tent in a Montana campground. Since it was the middle of summer, we naively assumed the weather would stay comfortably warm, even at night. We were wrong.",[14,18,19],{},"A few hours after lying down for the night, I awoke with chattering teeth, icy feet, a cold nose, and a keen awareness that the sleeping bag I bought years ago at Sears for $9.95 wasn't going to sustain me on the cold ground. I pulled an extra sweatshirt over my head and looked around in vain for something else to keep me warm. Nearby, my son was sleeping soundly, and for a long moment I considered stealing his blanket; but in the spirit of parental sacrifice I resisted the temptation. Shivering as I glanced at my watch, I thought, \"3:00 a.m.—still three long hours till daybreak.\"",[14,21,22],{},"Did you ever endure a long night when the hours dragged by and you couldn't wait for morning to arrive? Maybe you were sick, tossing and turning in bed. Or you awoke fretting in the middle of the night, filled with anxious thoughts. (Isn't it interesting how worries seem more oppressive at 3:00 a.m.?)",[14,24,25],{},"Some people, of course, have little choice but to stay up all night. Cross-country truck drivers make good time during the wee hours when the majority of us are home in bed. My wife, a Registered Nurse, takes care of hospital patients from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Night watchmen stay on patrol during the graveyard shift.",[14,27,28],{},"My friend Terry Knaul served in the Army for several years, including a stint in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. Terry remembers a long, cold night in January, 1987, when he was stationed in Germany. He was on guard duty during the night shift, making sure no one tampered with any of his helicopter squadron's equipment. Warming himself briefly by a stove in a windblown tent, Terry decided to interrupt the boredom as he often did: by reading his Bible. That particular night his study took him to Psalm 130, and two verses (5 and 6) that seemed written especially for him: \"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.\"",[14,30,31],{},"Why does the psalmist repeat the phrase about watchmen, as if to emphasize his point? And how much does a watchman wait for the morning, anyway? I decided to ask Roger Moorehead, a security guard who sometimes works the night shift at Standard Publishing where I work. How does he cope with the long nights? By drinking a lot of coffee and getting a lot of exercise. (He estimates that he walks about a mile each time he covers the full circuit of the building's interior.) \"The worst time for me,\" Roger points out, \"is 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. Sometimes you feel like you're just going to die! But once the sun comes up, you get a second wind.\"",[14,33,34],{},"He's right. In fact, I discovered a bright side on that cold, sleepless night at my family's Montana campsite. At 5:30 a.m., the cloudless sky served as a backdrop for some of the most beautiful stars I've ever seen. And although my son continued to sleep soundly, I discovered that my wife and daughters were awake, so together we marveled at the Creator's late-night star show. And when the sun finally came up, I felt more refreshed than exhausted.",[14,36,37],{},"All of us will face some long, dark nights from time to time. It's good to remember that the sunrise is worth the wait.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":39,"depth":39,"links":40},2,[],"From the Editor's Desk","1998-10-04","md",null,{},4,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fmore-than-watchmen",[54,55,56],"Biblical Theology","Christian Unity","Spiritual Formation","rk7FmBIbxDz4apMbQYdIH8g7d5zDQjq56IYmz0e4KfM",[59,64],{"title":60,"path":61,"stem":62,"description":63,"children":-1},"More Than a Piece of Paper","\u002Farticles\u002Fmore-than-a-piece-of-paper","articles\u002Fmore-than-a-piece-of-paper","Is a marriage license \"just a piece of paper,\" as some insist? Truth is, we consider some pieces of paper quite important—paychecks, diplomas, property deeds, letters from close friends—so why not value a document that makes our matrimonial vows a matter of public record? But the real issue revolves around a deeper question: What do we believe about marriage itself?",{"title":65,"path":66,"stem":67,"description":68,"children":-1},"My One and Only Marathon","\u002Farticles\u002Fmy-one-and-only-marathon","articles\u002Fmy-one-and-only-marathon","I ran in a marathon once. As proof of the accomplishment, in my office I keep a medal I received at the conclusion of the 2014 Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati."]