Warrior Few

I am reading the book, Leadership and Training for the Fight, by MSG Paul R. Howe (US Army Retired), and I am about half way through it.

I came upon this quote, and I wanted to share it with you.

“Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there,
Eighty are just targets,
Nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Continue reading “Warrior Few”

A Decline in Courage

Follows is an excerpt of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Speech, which we may find quite revealing:

A Decline in Courage [. . .]

may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society. Of course there are many courageous individuals but Continue reading “A Decline in Courage”

Passing a Crucial Test

As Christians, our lives follow a process of preparation that we can observe in the scripture. In many ways, we follow the same course of preparation that Jesus followed, and that we can observe in the Gospels. We can see ourselves, and recognize not only the process, but actual events in our lives can parallel what happened to Jesus in remarkable ways. He was tempted in every manner as we are, yet without sin. He lived as an example to us, and all the lives of people in the scripture are given to us as examples, upon whom the end of the ages have come, and are now coming.

One thing that I noticed or recognized some time back, which is an example of this fact, is a particular temptation that came to Jesus when he was in the wilderness that also comes to each of us, as Christians. There are some very high profile examples of this that I have observed, and I have also observed it in my own life, and in the lives of others close to me. It seems a universal part of the process that we go through. I will attempt to explain this in as few words as possible. Continue reading “Passing a Crucial Test”