"I need Ammo!"

"It's too late - to be stopped at the crossroads. Each life here - a possible way. But wait - and they all will be lost roads. Each road's getting shorter the longer I stay..."

David Wilcox, singer and songwriter






Have you ever heard of the story in the Scriptures where a guy ended up burying the money he was given?

As I understand it, money was given to some slaves by their master to go and "do business" for the purpose of making more than what they started with. All of the them put what they recieved to use (who knows doing what), and doubled the amount of money they had started with, except for one of them.

The story says this particular man decided to bury the money. In his response to the master it seemed as if he buried it for fear that he might loose it. For fear.

Have you ever seen the last battle scene of "Saving Private Ryan?" Remember the small band of three or four soldiers who are ordered to go and find private Ryan to order him home. The war had taken the life of all of his brothers and upper command did not want to see their mother loose the last remaining son.

What an amazing journey. A small band of brothers on a search for one soldier among thousands to bring him home in safety. What a beautiful portrayal of the bigger story we find ourselves in.

If you've seen the movie he refuses to leave his batallion for home and engages in the last battle of the movie. Wow...what dedication and courage by this young private.

But do you remember the one American soldier who was in charge of providing ammo to the rest of the soldiers during this last battle? The camera panes to him periodically as he is completely overcome with fear. He is skiddishly stumbling around the battleground with hundreds of rounds of ammo draped around his neck.

He is utterly petrified.

You find him huddling up against a wall frozen as his fellow brothers are desperately screaming out, "I need ammo!" And then he hears a wrestling battle between his fellow brother and a German. He slowly climbs the stairs with his gun drawn to help and then stops.

He stops?

He hunches over in the stairwell as his friend is stabbed to death. Then the German soldier comes down the steps and passes right by this scared American soldier who has his gun drawn and 50 pounds of firepower ready to terminate him.

Honestly, doesn't this scene make you want to strangle this guy? He is so scared by all that is going on around him that he is totally immobalized.

But if I'm honest I can also see part of myself in this young man, and that's the truth. Maybe their is a part of all of us that wants to huddle up in a stairwell and allow fear to petrify us while we are draped with the talents to deliver.

This American soldier reminds me a bit of the slave in the story of the Scriptures. Fear of losing his life prevented him from being engaged in the battle. As for the slave, he feared that he might loose the small amount that he was given, so he thought it would be best to bury it. In both stories their fear petrified them.

I sit here back in my room at 204 Mount Oak Place writing my last blog of this chapter of the journey. It feels different not writing the blog from a plush chair at a Starbucks Coffee though. It's been a challenging three weeks and I'm grateful to be back here at home. As I've strived to counter the fear, belief comes to mind. Small steps of courage to move out of the huddled position in the stairwell, ready to bury the treasures given to me.

There's another story that starts out something like..."if you have faith as small as a mustard seed..."

Come on...really, as small as a mustard seed? Well we can chat about that in the next chapter...





Feel free to comment on the blog...would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading and being along for the journey.