8-8-25

When I was a young paratrooper I made my first jump off the ramp…..basically

out the back of the aircraft as opposed to jumping out the side door…..the

Jumpmaster was a Green Beret Master Sergeant who did all of his air safety

checks, gave all of the right commands, and I was expecting him to tell me when

to jump and then follow me out…..but he didn’t do that…..he stood up and looked

at the jumpers waiting and when the green light went on he yelled “follow me!”

and went off the ramp into the abyss….first off the ramp…..”follow me!” and I

believe I would have followed him anywhere at that moment……people will follow

when a leader stands up and says “I see the way forward and I’m willing to go

first. I’m willing to risk it. Follow me”…..it’s an amazing thing when you have

someone actually point the way…..actually provide the clarity, the motivation, the

wisdom, that you need for that moment…..but what about the times when you

can’t see it yet…..what about the times when you have no idea what God is

doing…..when your circumstances don’t give you your answers……Philippians 4:6-

7 talks about that……we’re told not to be anxious, but in all things….and that’s ALL

things…..to bring them to the Lord very specifically, and with thankfulness, and

the peace of God which makes no sense to the world around us…..a peace that

defies all the odds, all the circumstances…..will actually “guard our hearts and

minds in Christ Jesus”……the cool thing is that I recently saw that verse in what is

known as the amplified version that the peace I’m talking about will “mount a

garrison and stand guard over our minds”…..wow…..in other words the peace will

fight for us like a garrison of soldiers…..that’s just cool ……getting to the peace

though…..that’s sometimes tough….and I totally get that…..I’ve had some life

experiences…..some good and some horrible…..I’ve had highs and lows

personally, professionally…..I’ve lost loved ones, and had to work multiple jobs,

I’ve faced trials, I’ve had some major victories too……I told someone the other day

that I have no idea what a comfort zone is because I’ve never had one……but

sometimes that’s where you find the peace…..because if everything was perfect

you wouldn’t need to seek peace, right?

In the course of serving my time in uniform a part of that time was several

months at the US Army Ranger School……I’ve said before that becoming a Ranger

was the one of the best worst experiences of my life……and it was…..it was a suck-

fest from day one and I can honestly say that it moved me past all of my

limits……physicially, emotionally, mentally, even spiritually…….I’d love to sit here

and tell you that it was “no big deal”….. but no! it was every bit the personal trial

that it was designed to be……I mean, if it was easy everybody would do it…..but

nobody would do it twice……I had a day in Ranger School where I had hit my

limit…..I was 30 pounds lighter, sleep deprived, and at my physical and mental

end point……that’s the place where you really learn about yourself…..nothing was

going right that cold February day in the swamps of Florida…..I couldn’t get

anyone in my Platoon to do anything at all…..I wasn’t the only one hitting the wall

but yet I was one of the only one’s getting graded at that moment on how well I

could move guys who didn’t want to move and get them to do things that were

physically beyond their physical capabilities…..so yeah, God and I had a moment

there…..a moment where I came to the realization that everything I had been

working for might be for naught…..and in that moment I had a very brief but

meaningful discussion with the Lord……you see, I believe that God loves soldiers,

he loves warriors for that matter……he is not offended that men and women who

are in the midst of learning how to fight come to Him…..He is a God who can be

meek and quiet and speak in a still small voice, and the very next minute He can

rain down fire from Heaven and make his enemies take a knee……so there I was at

Ranger School, freezing in the wet and nastiness of the swamps, and talking with

God in a very real and down-to-earth way…..I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t

going perfect…..wasn’t I where I believed he wanted me? My gut still said

“yes”……well, then why wasn’t it going perfectly then?.....pretty much every day I

was in the course there were guys quitting…..on day one 450 tried to get in my

class….250 or so made it in…..only 98 of us graduated to become Rangers…..was it

worth it? Hey God, is this worth it?!......and then I settled into a different

spot…..and I remember it wasn’t really so much a prayer as it was a statement…..I

remember saying (maybe out loud) “Well God, if you want me to be a Ranger then

I will. And if you don’t then I’ll go home and be proud of that too”……it was an

acceptance moment…..a moment when I was basically saying, “Hey God, I’m all

in. I’m going to fight for as long as you say fight, and I’m going to do everything it

takes. I’m going to quit fixating on my desired outcome. I’m just going to be

obedient to the cause.”…..Was I giving up? Not a bit, not for a second……but I was

recognizing, and acceding to, the idea that this was bigger than me and that the

process was just as important in many ways as the outcome…..here’s the

thing…..in that moment, that simple little discussion with God in the moldy

backwater of some swamp in the panhandle of Florida resulted in one of the most

amazing experiences of my life……I kid you not, I felt a sense of relief come over

me like nothing I’ve ever felt before or since…..I don’t mean a little bit…..it was

tangible…..I suddenly felt like the guy who had been underwater too long who

was able to catch a real breath for the first time in far too long…..it was tangible,

and I actually remember that I laughed out loud, despite everything around me

NOT being funny……but that was only the beginning….because right after that it

was if the Platoon caught a fresh breath as well……guys started moving, rucksacks

went on, com’s were up, we collapsed the perimeter and moved out and hit the

target on time…..and yes, I graduated from Ranger School……that was 34 years

ago and I can remember it like it was yesterday but sometimes I need to be

reminded nonetheless…….sometimes the mission is just to fight…..just to carry

on….

Ronald Reagan knew about that…..he was lampooned by the left constantly but

he kept standing…… one account of Reagan’s legacy says this:

“The defining feature of Ronald Reagan was his moral courage. It takes

tremendous moral courage to resist the overwhelming tide of received opinion

and so-called expert wisdom and to say and do exactly the opposite. It could not

have been pleasant for Reagan to be denounced as an ignorant cowboy, an

extremist, a warmonger, a fascist, or worse by people who thought themselves

intellectually superior to him…. During Reagan’s presidency, America enjoyed its

longest period of sustained economic growth in the 20th century. Meanwhile, in

the realm of foreign policy, the Reagan Doctrine led to the defeat of the worst

totalitarian scourge to blight the globe since the defeat of the Nazis in World War

II. By the time he left office, the faith of Americans in the greatness of their

country had been restored. In retrospect, Reagan’s was a great American success

story. Born in rented rooms above a bank in Tampico, Illinois, he ended his days as

the single most important American conservative figure of the last century. Not

bad for an ignorant cowboy.”

I don’t always get it…..I’m stubborn, I’m hardheaded, I see things a certain way,

and I know that I often believe that I can just make that square peg fit in that

round hole if I just take a little more off the corners…..I also know that I’m a hard

worker…..I believe that sleep is highly overrated and that work is what sheepdogs

do and that not working is for sheep……I’m a big fan of stupid quotes like “chicks

dig scars” and I’m motivated by stories of warriors who bear those scars…..but I

also get tired if the truth be known……I find myself getting to that point

sometimes that I question the fight, and I wonder why it can’t just be a bit

easier…..and then I’m reminded of that day in the swamps when I was done in

and I learned the value of pushing through the moment and being satisfied with

that, only to see the end result actually happen because of the culmination of

sticking with the moments and not fixating on the end……and I’m reminded of

people like Reagan who stood in the gap when everyone said “don’t” and he ”did”

and our lives were better for it…..

…..somewhere in that same time frame as when I finished Ranger School I ran

across a poem…..I’m not one who is inclined to poetry mind you, so I have no idea

how I came to read this one, but it was spot on and written by a lady named

Ethelwyn Wetherald from the late 1800’s…..it’s called “My Orders” and it says

this:

My orders are to fight;

Then if I bleed, or fail,

Or strongly win, what matters it?

God only doth prevail.

The servant craveth naught

Except to serve with might.

I was not told to win or lose,–

My orders are to fight.

So let me encourage you……hard times make strong men…..and peace? Peace is

real…..if I can find peace in the swamps of Florida, then yeah…..it’s real….and it

will mount a garrison and stand guard over your heart and mind when it makes no

sense to the world to have peace….and sometimes…..sometimes just fighting is

winning……

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way