Finally feeling something!

“A story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.”

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years is another Don Miller book that can not only make laugh, but will make you think and cry as well. I am continually amazed at how Don Miller has a never ending supply of stories that are actually interesting. I am amazed at how he can tell a story about himself and yet he never seems arrogant or prideful.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years explains that a persons life is a story. The choices you make and the challenges you face determine how interesting ones story is. Boring choices makes for a boring movie and challenging choices make for a great movie. What is your story saying? Are you living a life that requires stories to be made up in order for people to watch it?

Once again Don Miller has delivered an excellent, well thought out, challenging book that should be read. In fact, it is my opinion that this is by far the best book that Don Miller has ever written, and should not only be read but purchased for two or three friends to read.

Please take a moment to watch the video below and remember…

Where were you? What were you thinking? What were you doing? Could you watch? Could you STOP watching?

This was a tough day. I had an 8 o’clock Environmental Science class at Abilene Christian University with Emmitt Miller. I left there and went to work and as I walked up the stairs I heard the radio playing very loudly from the Faculty/Staff technology Help Desk. I had never heard this before. I didn’t know what was going on, but I came in loud as I usually did and was immediately “shushed”.

The next several hours were a blur. I went from my office, to the conference room to the help desk and then continued the cycle watching TV, listening to radio, looking on the internet doing anything I could to find out more information. I remember more from that day than almost any other day in my life. I was furious. How could someone do this to us? Don’t they know who they are messing with? I cheered as we carried out our “Shock and Awe” campaign. Take that! That’ll teach you to mess with us again!

And then I realized that over 3,000 people were still gone, never to return to their families. Firefighters, ran into the building when others were coming out, only to never come out again. I can’t imagine the pain that these families felt, and the amazing pride that accompanied the sorrow.

I hurt more today for these families than ever before. I watched several tribute videos this morning and I couldn’t quit thinking about the families across the globe impacted by this one event. The innocent lives lost in Iraq, the innocent lives lost in Afghanistan, the innocent lives lost in Pakistan, and many other places around the world that have been affected by this single event.

Today, as you go throughout the day, I ask you to thank God for your safety, thank God for your family, thank God for your blessings, and to pray continually for those that are putting themselves in harms way to keep it this way.

When I wrote my last post I was hoping that one of my military friends would comment. I was not disappointed when Brandon Sheets, a true American Hero, commented with his thoughts on the topic.

In one of Brandon’s comments, he refers to this labor day when he and his crew literally saved others lives in a military expedition. On Tuesday morning, when I woke up, I checked Facebook statuses and saw Brandon’s status which read:

430am, Just landed, 18hr day, Canada border-Nth Cascade mtns, search for family of 4, hypothermia, steady snowing, Located & hoisted all survivors, built fire, waited for weather, launched again, more bad weather/snow, team effort, LABOR DAY. Counting the blessings, Thank God, back home.

I got out of bed and asked my wife if she had read Brandon’s status and she chuckled because you just never know what Brandon is going to say, he is a really funny guy, but when I read it she said, “Wow”. So, all that said, I just want to tell you Brandon, “Thank you! You are a true American Hero”.

Real quick back to the post from yesterday though. Here is some more food for thought. Last night we had a discussion about this very topic with our Junior High, High School, and College students at church. A Bible story came to mind as I was thinking about this that really made me second guess my thoughts. You may remember the story about the lost sheep. A reminder for those unfamiliar can be found in Matthew 18:12-14:

12”What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

Does this apply to this situation. The shepherd left all the sheep at risk to save the one. There was a chance that all of the sheep could wander off, or be killed, but the “one” was that important. How does that fit in?

I read an article today that really disturbs me. A summary of the article is below:

Over the weekend U.S. forces dropped bombs on two hijacked gasoline tanker trucks, killing approximately 70 people, and I am sure injuring countless others. A New York Times reporter went to the area after warnings not to go due to Taliban control, and was captured along with his Afghani translator. British Forces “extensively planned” an extraction to take place while we were sleeping last night to rescue the reporter.

The reporter has been been rescued, but during the raid at the two owners of the house as well as a Taliban commander were killed. Also, the reporters translator and a British service member were killed in the raid.

The part that disturbs me I hope is obvious. How much is one life worth? Also, who gets to decide which life is more important? For instance, this reporter is now safe, however, there are now 5 people no longer living so that this can be the case. Is this reporters life worth 5 others? If so, who gets to decide this and why?

Please don’t get me wrong, I truly back our military forces, and in this situation it is actually a service members life that was given. My only question is, where is the justification for what took place. How is it OK to give 5 lives to save 1, especially considering he was told specifically not to go. Am I alone in this thinking?