Fear and Honor
01/25/13 14:31 Filed in: Adam Hoekstra
It’s funny how fear and honor go together. I have watched the movie Saving Private Ryan as I’m sure many of you have, and from what I gather from the accounts of others it is a rather good depiction of what happened. But in all of the chaos and fear going on, there were those that looked past the fear and found the courage to push forward. How did they do it?
Today, I sat down with my devotions and to spend some time preparing to lead my band of brothers later that night. As I opened my journal, I took a moment to look back at a couple of entries. One stood out to me as if it was calling out, “hey look at me, you want to read me, this is important.” It was a thought that I had a few months back, and never took the time dive into. What I had written on the page was, “It’s funny how fear and honor go together.”
As I sit here pondering that question, I can’t help but think of our military past and present that we honor today. The question I keep thinking about is why do we hold them in honor, and I can only come up with one answer. The answer I come up with is because of what they have done for a cause. Having been born over 30 years after World War II I have to use other mediums to learn about the men who we honor for their achievements. I have watched the movie Saving Private Ryan as I’m sure many of you have, and from what I gather from the accounts of others it is a rather good depiction of what happened. The part I am specifically thinking about today is the invasion of the beaches of Normandy. I can imagine myself in their situation. The gate opens and the bullets start to fly. I make it out and take a look around me. There is blood in the water, men trying to hide behind anything that might keep them alive. A body floats past, men are shell-shocked staring off in to the abyss, and others are paralyzed with fear.
How about you? Can you imagine this scene? Can you imagine the feelings that you would be having at that moment? I can tell you this, I would have to change my pants if I was there. But in all of the chaos and fear going on, there were those that looked past the fear and found the courage to push forward. They made it onto the beach they climbed over the barbed wire, and got to the machine gun nests and took them out. They took control of the beach that day and turned the war and the course of this world in a new direction.
Now that is a reason to honor somebody. They were facing almost certain death and in the face of that death they found the courage to continue. I don’t know about you but I find myself wanting to be those men who stormed those beaches and started to turn the war in a new direction. I pray that the true me would be one of those that would face the fear and find the courage to do the right thing. How about you, are you ready to become the man who charges the machine gun nest? I believe that God wants to honor us and give us a reward. He has promised us this honor and reward, and all we have to do is ask him for forgiveness of us our sins, and to accept him as our risen savior. How easy is that? The hard part comes next as the gates open and the bullets start to fly all around us. This is when you find out who you are. Are you the man who is shell shocked, or maybe you’re the one who is hiding behind anything to keep safe? Since your reading this I know you’re not a body that’s floating by. Now is the time to look deep into yourself, and to see what you are made to be. It’s in there; it is screaming to come out. Our creator put the desire there and he wants it to come out. Can you feel it? Can you sense it? This is the true you wanting to rise, wanting to come alive and take the machine gun nest. There is one thing that both the men who rise up and those that look to take cover have in common, both of them are afraid, both are fighting with the fear that is gripping at them. The difference between the two is courage, the courage to act in the face of fear. It is because of the courage those men found, who acted in the face of their fear; we have the chance to honor them.
So today it is your turn, it is your time to look into the face of fear, and to look inside yourself and find your courage, the courage our risen savior has given you. I challenge you to find out who you are, and charge the beach, climb over the barbed wire, and take the machine gun nest.
As I sit here pondering that question, I can’t help but think of our military past and present that we honor today. The question I keep thinking about is why do we hold them in honor, and I can only come up with one answer. The answer I come up with is because of what they have done for a cause. Having been born over 30 years after World War II I have to use other mediums to learn about the men who we honor for their achievements. I have watched the movie Saving Private Ryan as I’m sure many of you have, and from what I gather from the accounts of others it is a rather good depiction of what happened. The part I am specifically thinking about today is the invasion of the beaches of Normandy. I can imagine myself in their situation. The gate opens and the bullets start to fly. I make it out and take a look around me. There is blood in the water, men trying to hide behind anything that might keep them alive. A body floats past, men are shell-shocked staring off in to the abyss, and others are paralyzed with fear.
How about you? Can you imagine this scene? Can you imagine the feelings that you would be having at that moment? I can tell you this, I would have to change my pants if I was there. But in all of the chaos and fear going on, there were those that looked past the fear and found the courage to push forward. They made it onto the beach they climbed over the barbed wire, and got to the machine gun nests and took them out. They took control of the beach that day and turned the war and the course of this world in a new direction.
Now that is a reason to honor somebody. They were facing almost certain death and in the face of that death they found the courage to continue. I don’t know about you but I find myself wanting to be those men who stormed those beaches and started to turn the war in a new direction. I pray that the true me would be one of those that would face the fear and find the courage to do the right thing. How about you, are you ready to become the man who charges the machine gun nest? I believe that God wants to honor us and give us a reward. He has promised us this honor and reward, and all we have to do is ask him for forgiveness of us our sins, and to accept him as our risen savior. How easy is that? The hard part comes next as the gates open and the bullets start to fly all around us. This is when you find out who you are. Are you the man who is shell shocked, or maybe you’re the one who is hiding behind anything to keep safe? Since your reading this I know you’re not a body that’s floating by. Now is the time to look deep into yourself, and to see what you are made to be. It’s in there; it is screaming to come out. Our creator put the desire there and he wants it to come out. Can you feel it? Can you sense it? This is the true you wanting to rise, wanting to come alive and take the machine gun nest. There is one thing that both the men who rise up and those that look to take cover have in common, both of them are afraid, both are fighting with the fear that is gripping at them. The difference between the two is courage, the courage to act in the face of fear. It is because of the courage those men found, who acted in the face of their fear; we have the chance to honor them.
So today it is your turn, it is your time to look into the face of fear, and to look inside yourself and find your courage, the courage our risen savior has given you. I challenge you to find out who you are, and charge the beach, climb over the barbed wire, and take the machine gun nest.