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Currahee and the Mountain of the Lord
Currahee Mountain is a state landmark in Stephens County, GA. It was the training site for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne, during WWII. The name is derived from a Cherokee word meaning, “stands alone” and is descriptive of its place in the Blue Ridge Mountains. You may also recognize it from Tom Hanks’ and Steven Spielberg’s television mini-series Band of Brothers.
Some of the most dominant military units in American history were forged on that mountain. They trained on it everyday. Three miles up, three miles down. Carrying gear and weapons, those men matured as they bled and sweat at each other’s sides ascending to the 1,735 foot summit. Currahee became so engrained into their minds that as they parachuted over Normandy and other infamous battles, they elected to shout “Currahee!” instead of the typical “Geronimo!”
Just as those elite forces were trained for battle, Christians are also trained for conflict. But, believers are forged on the mountain of God. Isaiah prophesied this boot camp when he wrote, “Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths” (2:2f).
John Eldredge once lamented, “Too many Christians have approached their lives as though they were stepping onto the beaches of Normandy on D-Day with a lawn chair and a book to read." Without going up our spiritual Currahee, we can never hope to be successful in God’s campaign. We have to put in the long hours training on God’s mountain. If we pass, we crest God’s mountain as the most elite fighting force in the spiritual realm, but only with aid from our Master. David wrote about that success saying, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:3-5). Do you recognize that we have come to Mount Zion and are subordinates of the greatest Commander-in-chief that has ever fought?! (cf. Hebrews 12:18-29)
