Tag: lean in

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It Starts With an Idea

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought that the Olympics were fun to watch. The idea that you’re seeing someone who, at least for the moment, is the best in the world in their sport…the gold medals, the national anthems and flags being raised…it was so straightforward and patriotic. At the beginning of my Junior year of college, the Summer Olympics took place in Sydney, Australia. Because it was a southern hemisphere location, the games started later than normal, and I was able to watch it with friends at school rather than at home during the summer break.

You can only watch so many Olympic events in a row before it gets old, but I kept tabs on what was going on all throughout the games. For the big stuff, I’d be watching with other people in a lounge somewhere.

A buddy of mine, Jeremy, was also keeping up with the games that year. One time as we were watching we got to talking, and I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but one of us said to the other something like “You know, the next Winter Olympics are gonna be in Utah when we’re seniors.”

That’s pretty much all it took. We were in. Somehow, we were going to figure out how to go to Utah to see some of the 2002 Winter Olympics in person.

We were students at a college in western New York state. Utah wasn’t close, but at least it was in our country. We didn’t know how we’d get there, how we’d get back, where we’d sleep, or how close the venues were to each other. All we knew was that we had a big and bold idea, and we were willing to make some sacrifices in order to make it happen. We had about 17 months to figure it out.

One thing that’s neat about this life is that God has given us free will. We can choose to follow Him or not. Beyond that, He gives us the ability to choose how we would like to glorify Him. If you’re a Christian, you may notice that some causes tug at your heart strings a little more than others. It may be a heart for helping the homeless, orphans, alcoholics, those in prison, someone that doesn’t have clean water or someone you personally know that can’t afford enough food or medicine. Your combination of talents, interests, and spiritual gifts does not often match up with other people’s, and that’s by design. You are uniquely equipped and motivated to tackle challenges that are tailor-made for you. If you feel as though you’re compelled to plug into a certain area, most likely it’s because you are.

At some point in your Christian walk, you probably had an idea about some challenge you were supposed to take on. Maybe it was big and bold, maybe it was something a little easier to sink your teeth into. Like our Olympic idea, sometimes you just need to let the idea bake for awhile before moving out. Don’t let it die in the “still baking” phase, though.

Jeremy and I did go to the Olympics as spectators. I’ll give plenty more information in later posts, but I’ll tell you this much: it’s been almost 17 years since we took that trip…there are things I was willing to do in 2002 that I’m probably not willing to do now. That’s not necessarily good or bad, it’s just different. That helps illustrate another point: no matter how old you are, you’ve got an advantage when presented with a big and bold challenge. When you’re young, you probably have limited financial means, but your enthusiasm can carry you through many discomforts that you may not be willing to endure when you get older. A couple of decades later, you likely have a more solid financial footing and the benefit of some life experience, but there are many priorities competing for your time and you have to be dedicated to a prayer life and devotional life or they’re simply not going to happen. Further along, in the early years of your retirement you may or may not be as busy as during your working years, but you probably have the benefit of having less structure in the way you spend your time. Later in life you may not be able to get out and perform physical tasks as easily, but your prayer life and mentorship roles have the potential to be the best they’ve ever been.

The point I’m making is that when God plants an idea in your head that seems like it might be a little too big for you to handle, focus on the ways He’s equipped you to succeed. Instead of turning it down, let it stew for a little bit. It’s supposed to be intimidating. If He gave you an easy assignment, how would He get any glory out of it? On the other hand, if someone is woefully unprepared to take on a mammoth undertaking, and a million things have to line up in order for it to happen, it becomes obvious that the project’s eventual success didn’t come because of the person; God gets the glory in those cases. If it’s God handing you the next assignment, be willing to bite off more than you can chew.

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When Whiplash is a Good Thing

This post is a follow-on to my previous one, which had to do with people that are barely hanging in there, just trying to survive. (https://daregreatlynow.com/2018/11/05/helps-coming/)

Disclaimer: I have to warn you that I like military movies. Sometimes when I’m watching them, I get pretty excited about them and go back and watch the action-packed scenes a few times because I want to get a good handle on what I’m seeing. By their nature, though, they’re violent and often come with some salty language. I’m including a couple of clips below to go along with the post; if you’re not up for all the craziness right now, you’ll probably want the first clip. If my narrative below is too confusing and you just want to see for yourself (and can live with the cursing and shooting), go with clip number two.

One of my all-time favorite “spiritual metaphor” movie scenes comes from a movie called “Act of Valor.” It didn’t set any box office records or anything, but one of the distinguishing characteristics of the film was that the main characters in the movie were portrayed by active duty Navy SEALs. The plot was fictional, but it was based on real-world missions SEALs have conducted.

I know it wasn’t a real mission, but it was still fun to see SEALs doing some of the stuff they do. During the movie a team of SEALs had been sent into some foreign country to rescue an abducted CIA operative. The SEALs got solid information about her location, and they were tasked with recovering her. Her captors were torturing and interrogating her to find out how much the CIA knew about them. Heavily injured, her body wasn’t able to endure much more, and her health was failing quickly.

We’ve all seen movies or heard stories about Navy SEALs, and sometimes the line between what they can and can’t do gets a little blurred. They’re phenomenal at short-duration engagements, but since they usually work in smaller teams, a sizable enemy force will have a good chance of overwhelming them over time. In the movie, the SEALs rescued the CIA operative from immediate danger, but a sizable enemy force was bearing down on them. The rescue team stole a pickup truck and loaded everyone in, taking off just as a number of pursuit vehicles arrived to chase them during a high-speed shootout.

The SEALs’ planned method of extraction was to link up with a SWCC team…essentially a heavily-armed armored speedboat…whose callsign was Whiplash. But they began the assault earlier than planned (before the boats were in position), they hadn’t counted on this level of opposition on the way out, and there was too much happening for the original plan to function as intended.

The SEALs’ driver took off down the road without having an exact idea where he was going. The guy in the passenger seat was trying to navigate and establish radio contact with the team leader, who, along with another SEAL, was running to meet up with the rest. In addition to the barely conscious CIA operative, a member of the team had been shot in the head during the raid and was alive, but unconscious. Another team member was trying to keep him alive and revive him. All the while there’s a guy or two in the bed of the pickup trying to shield the CIA operative and return enough fire to keep the bad guys from getting too close.

The situation just kept getting worse. First they blew through their primary rendezvous point, and the enemy was too close for them to safely pull over at the backup rendezvous point, so they sped past it, too. They even pulled out a surprise or two to give themselves a better chance, but it just wasn’t enough. With no choice, they sped toward their last option, but by this time they had still created almost no separation from an aggressive enemy.

They ran out of road and at high speed splashed the truck directly into a river. They had gone as far as they could and had held the enemy at bay as long as possible, but despite keeping cool heads and performing at a high level, they could not be expected to do any more without some outside intervention. They had accomplished bold, even extraordinary things, but now it looked hopeless; the team had no reasonable hope of making a coordinated last stand against such devastating odds.

Just as the enemy trucks slid to a stop and armed men took aim, Whiplash came roaring around the river bend with guns blazing. Enemy shooters had no choice but to dive for cover as their vehicles got shot full of holes. After pinning down the enemy, sailors plucked the Americans out of the water and into the safety of the boats. As the scene closed, the vessel carrying the rescued team and CIA operative sped off down the river, having accomplished their objective.

(This is the shorter, less crazy version, but might still have a choice word or two.)

(The clip below includes the full pursuit, and is a little rougher on the eyes and ears.)

Have you ever had a day that felt like that? Things started out according to plan, but once one thing went wrong, it got bad in a hurry. Through grit and perseverance you might have been able to keep things from completely falling to pieces for awhile, but eventually the situation caught up with you and degraded to the point where it just wasn’t going to get better without some outside help.

Maybe you were on the other side of things. Maybe you were Whiplash, an answer to somebody’s prayer. Because of you and the help you were able to provide, you helped somebody stave off complete disaster.

Even better, maybe you have the opportunity to be Whiplash to someone right now. You might know somebody that’s already crashed into the water and is looking down the river in desperate expectation, but they can’t see anyone yet. They may not even know what they’re looking for, but they’re looking for you.

It’s time to armor up. Don the armor of God and grab that sword of truth. You’ve got allies (or potential allies) pinned down deep behind enemy lines, and only bold action will pull them out. If you’ve got the opportunity and can take a few hits for the sake of pulling the heat off someone else, step into the line of fire. Be Whiplash to someone. They’re desperate for you to arrive in time, and you’re the best chance they’ve got.