I first came upon the idea of the “project of power” as a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. It was via Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. Mahan’s theories and conclusions shaped modern geopolitical power in the 20th century. If you think about it, it was the United State’s ability to project sea power from the continental United States 6,000 miles away to the nation of Japan that was perhaps the key strategic element in winning the war in the Pacific. Even today in our current crisis in Israel and Gaza, the United States is able to project power with two carrier strike groups sent into the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent to further hostile actions, especially from Hezbollah. Continue reading
Projection of Power
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I have always been interested in the stories of the Kings of Judah and Israel as accounted in the Bible’s books of 1st/2nd Kings and 1st/2nd Chronicles. When the topic is raised among most Christian people, I would suggest that people recall the reign of King David and the stories of his son, King Solomon – and conclude that the era of the Kings was a good thing. They easily forget that Saul was the first king and his reign did not end well. Nor did Solomon’s. And David had his own spectacular moral failures. Apart from King Josiah, the rest of the Kings of Judah and Israel are judged harshly by Scripture, failing to do their duty to God and the covenant people, falling prey to the corruption of power.
Over the last two pastor’s columns I have been talking about stories: sharing 
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