A February Message of Faith, Hope and Patriotism from U.S. Navy Chaplain Lt. Zack Parker

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud

Zachary C. Parker is a native of Merritt Island and attended Tropical Elementary, Jefferson Middle School, and is a 2008 graduate of Merritt Island High School. He enlisted as a Master-at-Arms in the Navy Reserves in February 2013. Parker was commissioned as an Ensign, Chaplain Candidate Program Officer, and completed various Chaplain Corps training evolutions from 2015 to 2020. He served in civilian ministry roles, including as the operations manager at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, and as the senior pastor of King Street Baptist Church in Cocoa.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Valentine’s Day in elementary school at Tropical was all about cards and candy for classmates. At Jefferson Middle School, I was plotting how to surprise a special crush. And in high school at Merritt Island? February was the perfect time to start lining up a prom date.

In those early days, it wasn’t really about love at all. It was about the thrill of the gifts, the anticipation, the rush of emotion.

As we grow older, Valentine’s Day can feel different. It can be hard, lonely, or sometimes just another day on the calendar. Along the way, we begin to understand love more deeply, shaping a framework around what we value most.

We learn to love not just people, but family, country, home, and rest. Sometimes love shows up in our work, our traditions, or even in the small things like a favorite outfit, a holiday, a restaurant, or our community.

A famous Scripture passage, often quoted and easily memorized, reads:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud… Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Because of its familiarity, this passage is often reduced to something sentimental and reserved for wedding ceremonies or even reflections on Sunday mornings in sermons during February.

Yet whether one is a Bible-believing, Jesus-loving, churchgoing, potluck-eatin’ person or not, it is difficult to argue against these characteristics as a compelling definition of love.

Patient. Kind. Not envious. Not boastful. Not proud. Protects. Trusts. Hopes. Perseveres. Never Fails.

And if you do disagree, I genuinely welcome the conversation.

The Apostle Paul did not write these words in the book of 1 Corinthians as poetic filler or romantic prose. He wrote them as a corrective. The Corinthian church was fractured. It was divided by social status, leadership disputes, and personal freedoms. They were spiritually gifted, yet relationally immature. Passionate, yet shallow. Confident, yet unloving.

Paul’s point was simple and strong: without love, everything else is hollow.

Without love, success is empty. Marriage is empty. Parenting is empty. Relationships are empty. Even the most impressive people, professions, and personalities ring hollow when love is absent.

Importantly, this passage was never intended to be a life motto to admire, but a mirror to examine ourselves. It measures love not by what we say, but by what we do.

Paul does not describe love as a feeling to fall into, but as a pattern of behavior to live out.

Love, then, is not an accessory to a fulfilled life. It is the foundation.

And maybe that is what Valentine’s Day was pointing to all along. It wasn’t the cards, the candy, or even the romance, but the kind of love that endures when the excitement fades and the calendar turns.

And this is where the love of Jesus enters the conversation not as an abstract idea, but as the embodiment of everything Paul described.

Jesus did not merely teach about love; He lived it.

Patient to understand. Kind to the overlooked. Humble in power. Steadfast in suffering. When abandoned, He did not withdraw. When rejected, He did not retaliate.

When nailed to a cross, He did not quit.

The reason love never fails is not because we can practice it perfectly, but because He perfectly loves us.

Human love can fracture under disappointment, distance, and time. But the love of Jesus remains when feelings fade, when relationships strain, and when life does not turn out as planned. His love holds when circumstances do not. It endures when everything else let’s go.

So, Valentine’s Day, at its best, is not a celebration of romance, nostalgia, or even affection. It is a reminder, however faint, that we were made for a love stronger than emotion and deeper than desire. A love that does not depend on what we give, but on what has already been given.

Love never fails, because Jesus never does.

In a couple of weeks, when you’re on your 11th Dove chocolate and staring at yourself in the mirror, take a moment and ask, how am I really doing?

Am I being patient? Kind? Not envious or boastful? Not proud? Am I protecting, trusting, hoping, and persevering?

Love isn’t measured by what we say, but by what we do.

So maybe the first step is easy: hand that 12th chocolate to someone you love.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Zachary Parker is a Merritt Island native who attended Tropical Elementary, Jefferson Middle School, and graduated from Merritt Island High School in 2008. He currently serves as an active-duty U.S. Navy Chaplain at the Washington Navy Yard, advising senior leaders on readiness, resilience, and ethical leadership. With more than 15 years of experience across military, nonprofit, and faith-based sectors, he also serves as an adjunct professor teaching graduate-level courses in moral leadership and professional chaplaincy. Parker holds a Doctorate in Educational Ministry and has been nationally recognized for Navy-wide initiatives impacting Sailors and their families.

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