Never Quit, Never Give Up, You are Never Out of the Fight... If you want to stop me, you'll have to kill me....

Marcus Luttrell

Navy SEAL and author of The Lone Survivor talks to college football players and teaches something all of us will need at some point in life.  Never, ever quit.  If you're still alive, you're still in the game.  Keep going.  Don't give up.... Don't give in....  Refuse to accept defeat.

Character of the Happy Warrior

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

  Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he

That every man in arms should wish to be?

—It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought

Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought

Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:

Whose high endeavours are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright;

Who, with a natural instinct to discern

What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;

Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,

But makes his moral being his prime care;

Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,

And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!

Turns his necessity to glorious gain;

In face of these doth exercise a power

Which is our human nature's highest dower:

Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves

Of their bad influence, and their good receives:

By objects, which might force the soul to abate

Her feeling, rendered more compassionate;

Is placable—because occasions rise

So often that demand such sacrifice;

More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,

As tempted more; more able to endure,

As more exposed to suffering and distress;

Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.

—'Tis he whose law is reason; who depends

Upon that law as on the best of friends;

Whence, in a state where men are tempted still

To evil for a guard against worse ill,

And what in quality or act is best

Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,

He labours good on good to fix, and owes

To virtue every triumph that he knows:

—Who, if he rise to station of command,

Rises by open means; and there will stand

On honourable terms, or else retire,

And in himself possess his own desire;

Who comprehends his trust, and to the same

Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;

And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait

For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state;

Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,

Like showers of manna, if they come at all:

Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,

Or mild concerns of ordinary life,

A constant influence, a peculiar grace;

But who, if he be called upon to face

Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined

Great issues, good or bad for human kind,

Is happy as a Lover; and attired

With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;

And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law

In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw;

Or if an unexpected call succeed,

Come when it will, is equal to the need:

—He who, though thus endued as with a sense

And faculty for storm and turbulence,

Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans

To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;

Sweet images! which, wheresoe'er he be,

Are at his heart; and such fidelity

It is his darling passion to approve;

More brave for this, that he hath much to love:—

'Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,

Conspicuous object in a Nation's eye,

Or left unthought-of in obscurity,—

Who, with a toward or untoward lot,

Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not—

Plays, in the many games of life, that one

Where what he most doth value must be won:

Whom neither shape or danger can dismay,

Nor thought of tender happiness betray;

Who, not content that former worth stand fast,

Looks forward, persevering to the last,

From well to better, daily self-surpast:

Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth

For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,

Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,

And leave a dead unprofitable name—

Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;

And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws

His breath in confidence of Heaven's applause:

This is the happy Warrior; this is he

That every man in arms should wish to be.

Finding Joy

This video always makes me feel good.  We hear that we should "find joy in the journey" and I think it's one of the most important things we can do in life.  God is joy, love and peace, but we don't always feel it.  Life is a struggle and we must choose what we are going to feel... what we are going to believe.  Are we going to choose doubt, fear and despair or are we going to choose joy, love and peace?

Non-believers will say that faith is a crutch.  They say they only believe in what they can see... what is real.  So many of the one's I know then turn to alcohol or drugs to escape the reality of their lives.  Talk about a crutch.  It's actually kinda funny to me (I'm not a very compassionate person, but I'm working on it) that they mock us for needing a "crutch like religion" to get through life and then they take a shot of liquor to help them feel better.  I've never known anyone that receives joy, love and peace from alcohol or drugs.  In fact, they receive just the opposite.

But I'll go ahead and admit it.... YES, I need a crutch.  I am a broken person living in a broken world and I need help.  That help is available to me, and to all of us, through Jesus Christ and I am not ashamed to accept Him into my life and follow Him.  He is the source of joy, love, and peace in my life - and He can give that to you as well.

Some Great Thing

I love history.  I have been fascinated by history all my life.  It's not so much the where and when, but the "why" that intrigues me.  As I read of the "great things" of the human experience, I want to be there.  I want to stand with the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, man they walls of the Alamo, or ride into the snow packed mountains searching for the stranded handcart pioneers.  It's not that I have a death wish, but I long for that battle against overwhelming odds.  I'm looking to do "some great thing".

I've read this is a common desire for the warrior's heart.  After 9/11 many people say, "I'm glad I wasn't on one of those planes" and the warrior says, "I wish I was on one of those planes.  Maybe I could have done something to change the outcome."  But this feeling isn't new.  It's been around since ancient times.

Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.

And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.

And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.

And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.

And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment....

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

(2 Kings 5)

Naaman was a warrior and had the prophet asked him to do some great thing he would have done it or died trying.  Elisha could have sent Naaman on some impossible quest and the warrior in him would have driven him to accomplish it, but the prophet asked something simply, even seemingly silly.  In fact is was so silly the warrior walked away in anger.  But then a wise servant came to him and asked the question, "if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it?"

I'm that way.  If the prophet asked for volunteers to walk into snow packed mountain passes to rescue people, I'd do it, but I don't do my home-teaching regularly.  I risk my life for strangers, but I don't stop in and see how my neighbors are doing.  I'm waiting for the Lord to ask me to do some great thing, but I let a lot of the supposedly little and not so great things slide.

I've pondered on that a lot and I've decided it's partly because I don't see the significance of those "little" things.  People stranded in the mountains will die if we don't go save them, but if I don't do my home-teaching does that really have an effect upon those families?  And my neighbor isn't going to die if I don't stop by and see how he's doing.  

A couple days ago, I came across this video and it's changed how I think - not completely, I'm still looking for a dragon to slay!

Like President Hinckley says, we do not often see the results of what we do.  Because of that, what we do often seems insignificant or even a waste of time.  He said, "You never know how much good you do."

We can rest assured that God never asks us to do insignificant, meaningless, or unnecessary things. The things He asks us to do are life's truly "great things", but we just don't recognize them as such because we can't see the results.

This was on my mind today as the sun was rising and I patrolled through a peaceful countryside waking up to a Sabbath morning.  I thought, "Maybe this is all it is.  Maybe it's just helping my wife and kids and those around me the best that I can."

So I still put on my armor and weapons and set out looking for a dragon to slay, but I'm coming to see that "doing some great thing" is simply doing whatever God asks me to do today.

Going In-Active....

Been a while since my last post.  My schedule changed from nights to days and I guess I haven't had much to write about - at least nothing came to mind.  The dynamic of day shift is different than nights.

My days off also changed and now I work every Sunday.  I haven't been to church in about 6 weeks now.  I have been fortunate to be able to stop in and take the sacrament each week.  I stand in the foyer, with the parents who's children are misbehaving, and wait for the Deacons to bring out the sacrament.  The parents point to me and tell their children they better be good or I'll take them to jail.  I hate it when people do that.  It scares the kids to death and they look at me like I'm some kind of monster.  But.... standing in the church, waiting for the sacrament I refrain from telling the parents they're being dumb #$%#@ and then have to repent for even thinking it.... I sure need Jesus and His Atonement... I can't even stop sinning while trying to be good!

Last night before going to bed I was contemplating one more Sabbath day spent in my patrol car and I wondered, "Does anyone even notice that I haven't been to church in over a month?"  I don't know.  When people stop going to church, for what ever reason, I think at some point they wonder the same thing.  "Did anyone notice that I don't come to church anymore"  and even more importantly, "Does anyone care?"  I think that's the most important question.

Do we really care when someone stops coming to church - do we even notice?  I've never been an overly social person.  I don't feel like I need a lot of group support - but some people really need it.  At some level, I think we all do.  I think we all want to be part of something.  We don't want to be invisible, forgotten or overlooked.