NUTS!

March 9, 2015

“Will evildoers never learn–those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the Lord? There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous. You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge.” -Psalm 14:4-6


“We won’t begin to understand our lives, or what this so-called gospel is that Christianity speaks of, until we understand the Story in which we have found ourselves. For when you were born, you were born into an Epic that has already been under way for quite some time. It is a story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a Story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal.” -John Eldridge, Epic


We are at war. To some degree, we are all part of this same war, however, some of us see far more action that others. Anne-Marie and I have seen a lot of enemy fire and we continue to be put on the front lines. Do we want to be here? Do we think we can handle this? No, but this is where we find ourselves. And it is in this war and in these battles that our character and medal is tested. We are squeezed and twisted and bent to the breaking point by the Enemy, but we don’t break. Not because of anything we do or by our strength, but because we find refuge in the Lord.

Nuts

With all that we are faced with, I feel like we are part of the 101st airborne in Bastogne, encircled by the German Forces in the Battle of the Bulge. We are outnumbered 5 to 1, poorly equipped for the winter weather, low on ammunition, low on food, and without shelter. Just dug into our foxholes and trying desperately to just hold our ground. We are constantly being shelled by artillery and the enemy tries to advance but we are able to poke our heads up briefly enough to drive them back and fend them off. Our position is vital to the enemy’s overall objective, just like Bastogne was for the Germans–but we won’t give up or surrender.

After encircling the city and cutting off the 101st from the rest of the forces and supply lines, the Germans issued a request for surrender, to which Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe replied with “N U T S!”.

In a sense, he told the German commander to “go to hell” even though they were outnumbered, outmatched, and outgunned. The men of the 101st repelled all of the advances of the German army to take the city over 7-10 days before help arrived and the Allies were able to resupply and retake the lines in Bastogne. And instead of being pulled off the front lines for a break in action, they were ordered to go on the offensive to battle the Germans even further back.

Those troops were real men, and saw more action that their fellow troops. They were revered by their comrades for their bravery and resiliency in such an impossible circumstance. They won when winning wasn’t even an option–all because they didn’t give up and run.

That is the type of man I want to be, that is the type of character I want to have, and that is the type of bravery I want to be known for. God has placed us in this position for His reason, and even though we have been isolated and encircled by the enemy, we will not bend, we will not break, we will not fold and we will not run. So to the commander of the forces that come against me and my family, NUTS!


Click here to read the full account of this story.

comments +

  1. Bev STEINEBRONN

    March 9th, 2015 at 10:12 pm

    Beautiful!!

  2. Brad Merrell

    March 10th, 2015 at 1:54 am

    Awesome Rob!

  3. Mimi

    March 10th, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    Love that we have a strong family unit. I’m so thankful and grateful that Rob is a brave and courageous warrior!!

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