Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
4/13/2022
Saving Private Ryan "Tell me I'm a Good Man!"
The Courageous men’s group that I’m in, has been watching these amazing videos that speak to accountability, friendship, and being a part of a group that as they say in the military, "they have your six". Meaning, they have your back. We watched some excerpts last night from the movie, Saving Private Ryan, a phenomenal World War II movie, let me give you a brief backdrop. A general was informed that a woman’s three sons had died in the war and that her youngest son was also in the fight. The general gave an order to send an eight-man squad to find this young man and bring him home to his mother. He felt his mother had paid a high enough price and that we should protect her last and youngest son. That general wanted this mom to know that she was valued and that her young son was valued enough to bring him home to help care for her.
At the end of the movie, the platoon leader played by Tom Hanks was killed. In fact, seven of the eight men who were sent out to bring private Ryan home were killed. And with his dying breath, he charged a young emotional private Ryan to "Earn this…Earn it!. I took that to mean that seven men had traded their lives to save him. I think he was saying be motivated to make it count. Validate us. He meant that Private Ryan needs to honor his fallen comrades with a life of service toward others.
There was a scene in the movie when Private Ryan was an old man with his children and grandchildren at his platoon leader's grave in Arlington cemetery. The emotions brought him to his knees so quickly that his family rushed to see what was wrong. His wife came up and stood next to him and held his arm tenderly. He looked at her and said, "tell me I’m a good man". She said what? He said, "tell me I’m a good man!". He wanted to know that his life mattered. That his life represented enough value for the price these men paid. He stood there with his children and his grandchildren, and he had doubts. He was questioning whether he had used his life wisely. It was an incredibly emotional realization.
Private Ryan could never repay what these men had given. And as I looked at our lives as Christians, we could never earn what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. We could never repay what he did. If you ask the people closest to you to “ tell me I’m a good man,…would they say, you are?
Wherever one is in life, it is never too late to start over or to live better. What would you need to do to hear God say, well done when you stand before him?
Would you say that I need to, stay the course? Glorify God, be obedient to God, discerning what God wants me to do or say today, and then do it? What?
Can I ask you to describe what you think it means to leave a family legacy? Could someone spend the day with you and say that I see Jesus in you? Would they see a life so well lived that it would beg them to ask what is different about you? The Bible says that you will know the Christian by their fruits. Is your legacy full of the fruits of the spirit?
2 Timothy 4:6–7 Paul says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith". What does it take to finish well?
You might say: Perhaps the courage to be different or depend on God. Our service to others. Having our actions glorify God. Obey his word. To be still and hear and do God what he says. To have a true relationship with Jesus.
What would you say?
If today was your last day, what do you see? Has your legacy led people closer to God? Have I glorified my father in all that I do? Am I known for planting seeds of faith by my actions? Have I grown in humility and love?
How’s the fruit in my life that God gave me to change lives?
God didn’t call us to walk alone. We need each other. STOP walking alone! We need to live our lives in a community of believers so that we might encourage one another. If you have been away because of this pandemic, it’s time to reengage. Every man wants to finish well. What will be your legacy? It begins with who you value. It thrives on what you value and who you serve.
I tell you today that you can be a good man. And you can be a better man than you are today if we would kneel at the foot of the cross and give your life over again to Jesus Christ and say yes! Wherever you send me, whatever you ask me to do Lord, the answer is YES! We lead by loving God first and valuing others. However you started, wherever you are today, you can finish strong!
But it’s not by might, not by power,
but by my spirit saith the Lord. Zech 4:6
Oceans Where Feet may Fall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga3DmPRPAQQ
