Thank You - Scars and All

In Western societies, today is the first day of the week. This week, Sunday just happens to be the first day of Thanksgiving week. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday as we give thanks to God for his divine mercy to those who survived the trip and set in for a first long, cold winter, as the story goes. One of the many things I am thankful for is my dad. Though he’s been gone almost two years now, his influence as a preacher, a Marine, a father and husband, and a man of science remains ever present in my own life and that of my wife’s and children’s.

Growing up there were a few things that puzzled me about Dad. He was a wounded warrior, bearing scars from three separate injuries in Vietnam, to include an artificial shoulder that he could raise just above eye level on a good day. Dad was strong, both in his faith and in his convictions, but he was also fair. He let us kids make our own mistakes and he was there to help pick up the pieces. In that regard I’m much like him. My wife carries the caution tape while I carry the first aid kit, so to speak. She often reminds me that a parent’s job is to keep our children from making foolish and painful mistakes, while I remind her that broken bones heal and bad judgement is the purview of the young. (By the way, she’s a much better mother than I’ll ever be a father.) But one thing that always intrigued me was Dad’s vehement reaction to specific triggers, like Jane Fonda and football. I asked him one day, how a preacher can be so unforgiving of someone’s mistakes made so long ago. He would respond that forgiveness wasn’t the problem – it was repentance. Fonda’s movies, television interviews, biopic, magazine articles, etc., all reminded Dad of the unnecessary pain and suffering caused by one woman’s selfish acts and the continued reminder that his sin was tied to his response to her stumbling block. And although she claimed regret for her thoughtless acts during the Vietnam War, her actions rarely support her words.

Decades later, I find myself sitting in the living room on a perfectly good Saturday watching a movie I literally hate. I know, right now you’re saying “but Mark, how can you write a blog about God’s love and admit to hating a movie,” or, “if you say you literally hate the movie, why do you watch it?” Well, Christian, we all fall short of God’s glory sometimes (Rom 3:23) and even though I write a blog against hate, I have some issues of my own to work through with God’s grace. That’s the straightforward answer.

The movie I’m referencing is “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.”[1] And before you ask, no I am not a wounded warrior nor am I a combat veteran. Those distinctions go to others more worthy than I. Nor do I personally know any of the fine men we lost or who survived that day. Rather, while my time as a Marine was spent between the wars, I am witness to the treatment of our valiant soldiers from the perspective of an American contractor – one of the millions of supporting cast who spent years in Iraq and Afghanistan providing material support one step away from the daily dangers of combat. So regardless of the albeit Hollywood script, the wonderful acting, and the amazing directing of that particular movie, I rarely watch it because of the emotions it conjures up: Emotions I would just rather let lie, no matter how true or fictitious that story, no matter how heroic or misguided the men portrayed in the film, and no matter how disgraceful and utterly cowardly our country’s response during that short conflict. The movie “13 Hours” is my “Hanoi Jane.”

Dad forgave Jane Fonda for her actions, her choices, for the sins she led others to commit, and for her lack of remorse, but her own inability to truly connect with those she wronged will forever be a stumbling block to even good preachers who weren’t directly injured by her actions. And while this might confuse you, for that on this first day of the 2018 week of thanks I am thankful. I am thankful because God, our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is big enough to see our struggles and caring enough to send His grace. He saw our need and two-thousand years ago sent his son to die once for all our sin.

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” (Rom 3:21–24, NIV)

So, Christian, be thankful this week for both the trials and the hindsight, because the trials mean God loves you enough to make you a better son or daughter, and the hindsight means you survived it. Maybe you didn’t get through it scar free, but regardless of scars you got through it free. For that, be thankful, because if you are reading this, you are free in Christ indeed!

(Photo: ABCNews-Go.com)

[1] 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. Directed by Michael Bay. 2016