Blood, Brains & Bulletholes

"There were 5 Allied Offensive’s in Europe during WWII. I flew in all 5.” He began as he spanned the miles and the years as though they were but a moment and right next door. Today I was privileged to spend some time with 87 year old, WWII Veteran Joe Gibson in his apartment at the Assisted Living Center that he now calls home. The Southern Alabama accent is dignified and thick. He walks with a hand carved spiral Hickory cane with a deer hoof for a handle…and no, you’ve probably never heard of him, but I’ll probably never forget him. He carries his aging, and hurting, 6 foot something frame with a grace and nobility befitting a cultured southern gentleman. When I asked if I could have my picture taken with him he responded that he would be honored to have his picture taken with me…his picture taken with me…but I digress, for this story is about the unexpected results, and the unforeseeable ripples across space and time that come from someone being all in. I didn’t have a recorder running, so unless you get to visit with Joe and hear the story yourself before he passes away, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Here is the story he told me…

I was a crew chief on the ground, and an engineer in the air. We flew personnel carriers, dropped paratroopers, in all 5 offensives, yes, Normandy too. I never was trained to be a navigator, I would have liked to though. I learned how to do it well enough, even learned how to fly a plane, without ever going to flight school, I spent so much time up in one; it’s really not that difficult, anyone could do it. The good Navigators could tell us where we were and set a course for us just from looking at the stars, I never was that good. I was a Navigator for the replacement pilots they sent, the really young ones…we lost so many pilots…they couldn’t go on missions until they had some experience in the planes in Europe so I would navigate for the new guys on training missions. Those poor guys, they were scared to death. Did you know there is an airfield on top of the Rock of Gibraltar? I landed there one time. You know, when you’re in something like that, flying over enemy territory, on all those missions…we flew at night you know…but when

 you do that, you always wonder what you would do if you got shot down. I always wondered, would I be able to stand up to the torture without cracking? Would I be able to take it, or would I turn against my country?

He spoke quietly, with intensity. “You know, three of my buddies got shot down. They were in another plane, they got shot down, and they were captured by the Germans. I didn’t know what they would do to them. After they had them a while, they put them in front of the firing squad. They lined them up in front of a wall that was splattered with blood, brains and bullet holes. There were parts of the bodies of dead American Soldiers there. The Germans offered them a US Cigarette, and they said ‘no’. Then they offered them a candy bar, and they said ‘no’. So the German commander told his firing squad to shoot them. Just then a Major came in and said “let me speak to these men…” He was able to negotiate their release. They did it. They stood up to the Germans, they didn’t lose their nerve, they refused to turn against the United States, and when I learned that, I knew I could do it too. After that, I never doubted that I would crumble under torture; I never doubted that I would die before I would turn against my country. It gave me courage to know they did it, and if they could do it I could do it too.”

He got courage to be all in because his buddies were willing to pay the ultimate price to be all in before him. He was en-couraged by their courage. And you know what else? I was en-couraged by their courage too, just because he chose to spend 20 minutes of what life he has left to tell me the story…and then connect the dots for me. Think about that for a moment, almost seventy years ago, three young soldiers refused a cigarette, a candy bar, and a Nazi offer to spare their lives in a courtyard in Germany. A courtyard covered with the blood, brains, and bullet holes of those who did the same before them. And now, nearly seventy years later, and 8000 miles away, a 47 year old preacher they would never know existed was encouraged by their choice to be all in. Does it do that for you? Or are you too cynical? That’s what I want you to consider today…that your decision to be all in affects far more people than you can ever imagine. Just like the negative overspray from your life gets on others, your cowardice or courage either en-courages others, or dis-courages others…lots of others…even others you will never know existed.

Paul knew this. [No surprise there.] He told some first century Hebrew Christians, who were thinking about taking Satan’s offer…to turn their back on Christ, become a traitor in trade for deliverance from persecution…He told them:

Seeing that you are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
run with patience the race that is set before you...

What witnesses? The one’s he had just finished telling the stories of. Hebrews 11 is the All In Hall of Fame: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Moses, Barach, Samson, those who defeated armies in the name of God, received their dead brought back to life again; and those who were beaten, sawn in pieces, tortured, etc…These all stand as witnesses that the race is worth the running. The life is worth the living. And yes, the death is worth the dying. It gave Paul courage [He was later murdered because he was a Christian], and he knew it would give us courage too.

So, I guess this leaves me asking whether my 'all in' life will encourage or my 'not all in' life will discourage others. Oh, yeah, and what about you?

I am not that kind of coach

I am not a coach...at least not that kind of coach. I do have a jersey that says Coach from being an assistant for my son's baseball team. [Not one of my more successful ventures, record wise, however we did get some good, fun, father-son time so it wasn't a complete loss.] But I have absolutely nothing in common with successful coaching legends in any division of organized sports: Tom Landry - Football, Phil Jackson - Basketball, G.A. Moore - H.S. Football, Gordon May - Baseball.

However, I think that all these great coaches do have one thing in common with us lesser coaches. All coaches that I've ever known, spend much of their time trying to convince their players that Football, Volleyball or [fill in with your sport of preference] is an all in kind of thing. The great ones are just better at it than the rest of us.They do that for at least a couple of reasons. We've all seen a skilled athlete who is all in. Pele? Nadia Comaneci? Michael Jordan? They are the reason that we are a nation, no, a world of sports fans. We all marvel at and aspire to the accomplishments of that special athlete whose image adorns the Wheaties box and stares at you from the walls of your favorite store in the mall.
We've also been inspired by someone with limited skill, who, because they were all in accomplished much more than anyone could have expected. Often they are immortalized in books or movies because their story inspires us to think that maybe, just maybe, if put in the right circumstance, we too would have been all in just the way he was. But like all things positive, there is an equal and opposite negative.
We've all seen someone with unmatched skill who isn't all in. Anyone remember Marcus Dupree? Yeah, if it weren't for an ESPN 30 for 30 special neither would I, yet he was one of the most gifted, special athletes to ever play football. We have a term for someone like that, someone with so much potential, who just never seems to make anything of the great gifts they've been given...A bust, that's the guy that everyone wants to avoid on draft day. There may be many reasons for a gifted athlete to become a bust, but one of the most common is the failure to commit. He [or she], despite their considerable physical skills, just isn't all in. They don't work hard, they don't practice hard, they take plays off, they loaf...half-hearted effort.
So every coach [great and not so great] wants Pele or Rudy, not John Daly right? [Oh, I know there is always a coach who will take a chance on Ryan Leaf or Ricky Williams, but it is exactly that, taking a chance.]
Well I told you I'm not a sports coach, but I am a coach of sorts. I spend much of my time coaching people in life through preaching and counseling, and in doing that, I've come to the conclusion that most people have problems in life because they aren't all in. They give a half-hearted effort at loving their spouse, disciplining their children, quitting tobacco, alcohol, or porn, forgiving their offender, unity in their church, supporting their family... They kind of try, then, when they don't experience the success that those who give it their all experience, they quit. They run for the sideline instead of turning up the field.
When I am doing my life coaching thing, guess what? I'm looking for Pele or Rudy too, or at least that one simple characteristic that they share; that all in mentality, that commitment that won't quit, that will to give all they've got, against all odds, in spite of all disadvantages. Rudy couldn't be Pele, but he could be the best version of Rudy he could be. I don't know your personal skills, but I do know that you can be the best version of you, or you can be a half-hearted caricature of you. Your coach wants that, your wife needs that, your kids depend on that, your church asks for that.Andrew didn't need to be Simon Peter, he just needed to be the best version of Andrew that he could be. That won't happen if you run with Loser's limp. Live your life...give it all you've got. Forget the failures of your past, we all have them, even Michael Jordan had them. Listen to what he said:

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life."

He's not the first guy to say something like that. Way back, about 2000 years ago, a guy who had everything, made some terrible choices, and woke up one day as the enemy of God, later in his life said this:

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14

So are you all in? You'll never know what you could have done until you are.