Are you a person who finds words fascinating? Well, I sure do. I will be having a conversation and hear a word l have probably heard 1000 times before and all of a sudden it will hit me, “Hmm, that is an odd word. I wonder where it came from?” That happened this morning when RuthAnn was talking about all the stuff she has to get done by a week from today, the last day of school. She said that there were a lot of deadlines that had to be met. When I heard the word deadline, I was struck how strange it is and immediately began to wonder where it came from.
Now I have used the word innumerable times myself. In construction you are always working against one deadline or another. The pressure is always on. So, I had heard the word repeatedly but this morning something set off my ‘word alarm’ and I needed to find out.
The wonder and the curse of our age is that just about all information known is now at our fingertips. I have to admit I have become as jaded as anyone when it comes to using the internet to seek the most trivial information. So, of course, when I wanted an answer to this word alarm question I headed to the unimpeachable source (said with much sarcasm), Google! And here is what I found:
Most etymologists agree that the word “deadline” first appeared during the American Civil War (1861-1865). According to author Christine Ammer, deadline was coined at the hellish Andersonville, GA prison camp, and first appeared in writing in the report of Confederate Inspector-General, Colonel D.T. Chandler, on July 5, 1864. In describing the horrific conditions, he famously wrote: “The Federal prisoners of war are confined within a stockade 15 feet high, of roughly hewn pine logs, about 8 inches in diameter, inserted 5 feet into the ground, enclosing, including the recent extension, an area of 540 by 260 yards. A railing around the inside of the stockade, and about 20 feet from it, constitutes the “deadline,” beyond which the prisoners are not allowed to pass . . . [as a large portion is] at present unfit for occupation . . . [this] gives somewhat less than 6 square feet to each prisoner . . .”
I was amazed by the source of the word. Living where I do in Georgia, I have walked the grounds of Andersonville Prison and seen the very location that D.T. Chandler spoke of. With this knowledge, all of a sudden, the word deadline takes on a deeper and, in some ways, more disturbing meaning. From now on either fortunately or unfortunately for me each time I either hear or use this word I will recall the inhumanity that we as mankind can wrought on one another. But when I reread the Colonel’s description of the prison, it made me think that when we are prisoners of sin, Satan has us in the exact situation as is described.
Now you may think I am stretching the point here but bear with me a bit. When I was living the ‘free’ life having no thought of the laws of God or if I did almost reveling in breaking them, I was actually building my own prison and erecting a ‘deadline’ I never dare cross. The difference was that the men in Andersonville knew they were in hell and if they crossed that line it meant sure death. In my case Satan convinced me that my prison was a place of endless pleasure and if I crossed the deadline, I would never have joy in my life again. The truth was I was entrapped in a life that meant death unless I was willing to cross not the deadline but the lifeline, allowing Jesus to transform me.
You see, being trapped in Satan’s prison is, in some ways, more hellish than even Andersonville and the main reason is that those of us who have lived or are living there are convinced that God is the jailer, he is the one who has set up deadlines, he is the one who steals and kills, but the truth is, it aint true. Here is what Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) It is Satan who steals and destroys, it is he who imprisons and he who lied to me all those years, convincing me that I could not live a life filled with joy and freedom obeying the laws of God. I am here to tell you; I have and I am.
This is the truth and if you can believe it, it will set you free, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16) God does not set ‘deadlines’ he will not let us cross. We have free will and can choose our own path. But I have lived in Satan’s prison and he sure does not give you these same options. But fear not, cross that line and trust in Jesus. Unlike Andersonville there is no deadline in the prison you may be in today. Only a lifeline, named Jesus Christ!
Blessings and Happy Sabbath,
John
5/10/19
