By EDDIE BURCHFIELD / Guest Columnist

I love the movie “Sgt. York.” It is a true story of a WWI hero by the name of Alvin York. He was raised in the back country, and hills of Tennessee.

Born in December 1887, the third of 11 children, he did not have much of a formal education because of the need to help run the family farm.

A crack shot, he helped provide the family with meat.

He got into logging and became a heavy drinker, and was frequently in bar fights.

His friend Everett Delk was beaten to death one night, and this had a profound effect on York.

He got involved in church, changed his ways and found him a future wife.

The United States entered WWI in April 1917, and York was drafted at the age of 30, sometime that early summer.

He was conflicted about killing, but was a crack shot. He was finally convinced to fight. He felt it was against the Bible, and talked of being a conscious objector, but saw a justification to fight for a cause that was just.

In May 1918 he was sent to France, and to make a long story short, after a heated machine gun battle, where the Germans had 35 machine guns and killed numerous troops of York’s company, York had had enough.

He ran and single-handedly took out 20 Germans, and six more that charged him with bayonets, he shot with his pistol.

He captured a German major and persuaded him to tell his men to surrender or he would be shot.

He said, “Major this touches off mighty easy.”

Convinced, the Major ordered all the troops to surrender. Sgt. Alvin York delivered 132 German prisoners to his Battalion Headquarters.

I know you remember the song “War – What is it good for?” You and I are in a war of our lives and souls.

Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The fight is a good fight, when it comes to being on the side of victory.

Three things I will leave you: Know yourself, like yourself and be yourself.

Stand strong as men, men of honor, as a Christian.

Eddie Burchfield is chaplain with Chelsea Fire and Rescue, Shelby County Jail and ATEF in Columbiana. He can be reached at Pentecostaled@aol.com.