Tuesday, January 22, 2013

FEARLESS TO THE END

Everyone needs time to refuel the engines.  Perhaps even a opportunity to look around and see others and what they're doing.  And it's also an occasion when you can take a look and challenge yourself and your creativity.   It's been since December 18th that I last posted.  I had to look for myself what I last wrote about because whatever it was, it flat out wasted me.  Both figuratively and literally. I had no ambition to write and even less to talk about.  Go figure. When I  took a look at my archives, it was readily apparent why I felt this way.  The subject was Newtown, Connecticut and the massacre that took place of the schoolchildren, teachers and administrators.

It's taken me 35 days to get back on the soapbox.  Not that I haven't been reading, compiling and noticing the world around me.  But now it's time to get back to work......

Over the Holidays, I grabbed a book off the library shelf about a Navy Seal by the name of Adam Brown.  It looked like an interesting read, but little did I know, how interesting.  It took me a day and a half to read.  I simply couldn't put it down.    

Here in a nutshell is the storyline.... "Fearless is the story of a man of extremes, whose determination was fueled by faith, family and the love of a woman.  It's about a man who waged a war against his own worst impulses and persevered to reach the top tier of the U.S. military.  Always the first to volunteer for the most dangerous assignment, Adam Brown's final act of bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice".

From Someone Many Had Given Up On....To One Simply "Fearless"  
Author Eric Blehm wrote a phenomenal book....a must read.  Blehm portrays Brown in about as transparent manner as you can get....with all the good and the bad and everything in between.  But more importantly, we see how Brown overcame his demons.  In a brief description Blehm writes, "when Navy Seal Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn't know he would die that night in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan-but he was ready.  In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the worst happened, he wrote, "I'm not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my Spirit from me".

Adam Brown is a Navy Seal Team Six member....but he is much more than that.  Read "Fearless" and you'll see what I mean.  Foremost, "LIFE OFFERS US CHOICES.....SOME PEOPLE STUMBLE DOWN THE WRONG PATH.......SOME PEOPLE NEVER RETURN.....AND SOME CHOOSE TO RISE TO A HIGHER CALLING".

So what do you feel like today...."Fearless"...."Worn Out"....."On Fire"....."Depressed"....."Passionate".  Regardless of what word you think best describes you, the capitalized words above should be a life lesson to us all.

About a year ago, a woman in our church told me I was "bountiful".  Okay.  Just what does that mean, I thought.  I made a quick dash to the computer when I got home to find out for sure.

"Bountiful"....plentiful, ample, giving freely, generous.....Big Hearted.  Frankly, I was a little embarrassed to think I didn't respond  to her statement knowing what it meant.  I knew it was something big or good, at least I think that's what she had in mind.  Or was it the city in Utah by the same name?  Bountiful.

Hopefully you've been called something "good" you can lean on.  A word that will be an encouraging note to others.  Like Adam Brown said.  "I'm not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my Spirit from me".

Amen......

YGG,

John