The Agony of Defeat or The Thrill of Victory
In 1971, a triangle scribbled on a napkin transformed a dream into an airline and a “wanna” into a “gonna.” That process developed the Southwest airline my family and I flew on last week to my youngest son, James O’Donnell’s USAF triumphant Special Ops Pararescue Graduation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “We do these things that others may live.” is the motto for this most elite of all Special Operation Divisions specializing in rescue and recovery.
The decisions we make aren’t isolated choices. Instead, they point us in the directions we’re headed or keep us stuck. Unfortunately, too many dreams, well-intended plans, and callings from God get buried with people who “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve,” but never did!
These people never found their courageous “Yes, I’m ‘gonna’ do this,” and gave up the fight for their confidence to say, “No, I will not walk away or accept defeat!” They may agree now that delayed obedience to God’s voice is disobedience.
Conceiving an idea and bringing it to fruition sometimes can be a long and challenging process, even taking longer than a decade, as in the case of my son! Of course, if it were easy, everyone would do it, and there would be a crowd at the top of our mountain! Unfortunately, only 36 other Pararescuemen graduated with James after conquering the rigorous “pipeline” training with an 80 to100 percent attrition rate. PJs must endure the pressure of these cuts for two years while they must complete each training segment of selection, combat dive school, airborne, free fall, survival training, paramedic school, tactics, and mastering the helicopter’s air operations. The only fist-bump from the Three Star Lieutenant General on Graduation Night was given to my son and served as a bonus for James’ patient perseverance! He kept asking, seeking, and knocking for nine years to get back into the Pararescue Training Pipeline until finally, the door opened! He felt a passionate calling to rescue and bring emergency medical aid to Airmen, soldiers and civilians during times of combat and peace worldwide.
I love the spiritual correlation between PJs and us, who are warriors as Kingdom scribes! If you enlist and commit, KWA will give you the path to becoming a Special Ops Scribe! You will be trained, sharpened, and honed with creative skills to set the prisoners free, bring healing to the wounded, and dedicate your time, energy, and life to aiding others.
On May 27th, 2011, my son’s graduation from his grueling and successful Indoctrination Course turned into the agony of defeat over just one sit-up! He missed the final cut on graduation morning during his Calisthenics Evaluation when his hands loosened during sit-ups. As a result, he was disqualified with one point off, even though he’d performed three extra sit-ups.
Life can be messy, and the blows can be gut-wrenchingly hard to take, but if we trust God and don’t give up, the thrill of victory becomes all the sweeter!
When we offer God our willingness, He empowers us to take what He has given us and multiply that blessing to others. The process begins with our faith in Him to take the first few steps, and then the adventure begins as we awaken to the Divine Set-Ups He brings to our attention to demonstrate His faith in us! Then there is character building, attitude shaping, and soul defining, all of which must take place for us to become what God intends. The step-by-step accomplishments are more than tasks. We are building a legacy ~ we are shaping God’s Kingdom and discovering the calling for our family and us.
We want our lives to make a difference for Christ in the world, to leave a lasting legacy to count for eternal significance. Each stage may not get easier, but we can get stronger!
I love the truth my Spiritual Papa, Jack Taylor, who passed away last year, shared with me from an unknown author.
The Reason I Write:
When we preach, we carve in vapor
When we write, we carve in stone
What we preach will be forgotten
What we write lives on and on.
