Can you be counted on?

Have you heard the story about a 90-year-old grandfather who was complaining to his grandson about getting old?

He said, “The worst part is the diapers.” He continued, “I don’t mind wearin’ them, it’s just the name I hate. “Depends”! If I have to wear a diaper, I don’t want there to be any ‘depends’ about it, I want for sure!”

It would be good if everything was “for sure,” but it’s not.

When it comes to some things, it depends.

And when it comes to some people, it depends.

Unfortunately, dependability isn’t a personal quality many care to ensure is a steadfast part of their character. But make no mistake about it, being reliable is a foundational component to the relationships in our lives. Pastor and author, Chuck Swindoll, highlighted the essential component of dependability in our relationships in his book, “Growing Strong in the Season of Life,” by posing several questions which he says are all different, but share the same answer:

What will guard us against foolish extremes?
What characterizes those who are habitually successful in sports or sales or some skill?
What single quality in a business builds respect deeper than any other?
What brings security in relationships?
What makes us choose a particular brand name over all others?
What’s needed most by parents in the home?
What draws you to the same restaurant time and again?
What do you want most from your paperboy … or milkman … or postman?
What will add more weight to your witness for Christ than anything else?
And, I might add, what one thing will most help you win tennis matches?

CONSISTENCY [or dependability]. That’s the answer to all the questions, and you know it’s true. Steadiness … In biblical terms, constancy is a subtle, supple thread woven into the fabric of scriptural truth.

Let our model be Jesus. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

I’ve told this story on more than one occasion, but because it’s one of the greatest examples of real dependability in a relationship that I’ve ever heard, I’ll tell it again here. It comes from a popular story of two friends who went to war together. I think the setting was Viet Nam. These young men had gone to school together and, as lifelong buddies, signed up to fight in the war together. They were excited they were assigned to serve together, and off to war they went.

Both of these men demonstrated bravery from the day they arrived in the war zone. If anything, their sergeant had to constrain them from taking too great of risks. But one day, while on patrol, things would change. Suddenly, their unit came under attack. The fire from the enemy was intense and kept them from crossing a broad clearing to reach cover on the other side. Someone needed to cross the clearing and set up cover fire for the unit, so one of the friends broke loose from his company and hit a fast run into the center of the clearing … where he was gunned down.

Immediately upon seeing his friend shot, the other buddy started to jump up and run out to his shot and dying friend. But the sergeant grabbed the soldier and threw him back, yelling at him that if he went out there he would lose his life like his friend was doing. The young man looked out into the field and saw the life draining out of his friend. With a jump he bounded to his feet and into the clearing toward his friend, but was shot down just as he reached his buddy.

The platoon fought valiantly for several more minutes and finally gained the upper hand on the enemy, allowing the soldiers to advance into and across the clearing. The sergeant ran to the young man who had run out to his friend. Seeing the soldier was dying, the sergeant said, “I told you not to go, I warned you! Now don’t you wish you would have listened to me?”

At that, the dying soldier looked up at his sergeant and spoke his last words: “Oh no, Sarge. You see, as soon as I got to my buddy he said to me, ‘I knew you would come.’”

Are you the kind of person who others, in their most challenging times of life, would say of you, “I knew you would come?”

Are you a dependable disciple of Jesus Christ? A dependable spouse? A dependable parent or child? A dependable friend? A dependable employee or employer?

Can you be counted?

Scotty