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Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow recently published an article about an American soldier during World War II who after parachuting to safety from a badly crippled B-26 bomber was almost immediately captured by German soldiers and marched at gunpoint through a nearby small French village. “But in a strange twist,” Blow described in his column, “it became a kind of parade and a show of defiance to the Nazis. Villagers began to follow along on foot and on bicycle, showing their admiration for the man trying to free their nation.” And for all these many years since – almost seventy by now – the villagers have tried to find him, the anonymous American soldier who, though a prisoner held at gunpoint, marched bravely and proudly through their town, a symbol of freedom and hope during their time of despair. Only recently through a series of miraculous discoveries did they succeed. Actually, it was the descendents of the villagers who found the descendents of the hero, as most including the American soldier himself by now had passed on. So grateful are the citizens of that small French village that they are planning a celebration to honor the American soldier and his family.

When Tee and I were married almost forty years ago I gave her as a wedding gift a small diamond-drop necklace, something she has worn every day of her life since. And though it is a rather simple piece of jewelry to her it is priceless, symbolic not only of our love for each other but also the life we have built together. Six months ago while visiting family in Chicago she discovered after a shopping trip with our granddaughter that the necklace had disappeared. She was devastated. Then last weekend while on a return trip to Chicago she requested that I take her back to the same store for one more look, to which I dutifully complied. Dubious about the whole thing, though, I remained in the car while she went inside. You can imagine my astonishment when only minutes later she came bouncing out of the store, the diamond-drop necklace clutched tightly in her fist. Some kind person, you see, had obviously picked it up and turned it in to the store’s management who had held it in safekeeping ever since. A miracle! And not unlike the soldier who marched bravely and proudly through the French village, the person who rescued my wife’s necklace has no idea how much that little action meant to her.

Never should we underestimate the impact our actions might have on someone else.

Rabbi Harold Kushner in his marvelous book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, tells the story about a couple who, in grieving the tragic loss of their teenage daughter, confessed to him that they had neglected to fast during Yom Kipper, as if their failure to observe religious custom had somehow precipitated their daughter’s untimely and unexpected death.  They needed an answer, you see, and having none, blaming themselves seemed to provide a handy explanation.  As it turned out the couple’s otherwise healthy daughter had suffered from the sudden rupture of a blood vessel, something no one would have ever suspected or detected.  Yet, understandably the couple was desperate for an answer, and the answer that was in reach was to blame themselves. 

We don’t do well with unanswered questions, do we?  Human nature desires there be logical explanations for everything.  The good news is that most of the knowledge we have today – from scientific discovery to the development and advancement of such disciplines as mathematics, engineering, philosophy, psychology, theology, art, music, and the study of history – is the result of our high sense of intellectual curiosity and desire for explanations. The bad news is that it is also the reason we have such a tendency to place blame when things go awry – blaming others, ourselves, or even God at times.  Blame too often becomes the default answer when we have no other explanation. 

Knowledge, though, is always imperfect and never complete.  So we always must suffer unanswered questions whether we want to or not.  Again, the good news is that suffering unanswered questions also fulfills the basic human need of hope, and hope is what inspires the human spirit.  As the Apostle Paul says, “. . . we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us . . .”  (Romans 5:3-5) 

We may not do well with unanswered questions, but that’s a good thing most of the time, for it inspires hope in the human spirit and motivates the advancement of knowledge, all for the betterment of the human condition and the building up of God’s Kingdom.

Legend has it that the motel chain Ramada Inn built its business plan base upon what its competitor Holiday Inn was doing.   Wherever Holiday Inn built a motel Ramada would build one across the highway or next door.  I don’t know for sure if the legend is valid or not, but if there is an ounce of truth in it, it was a brilliant plan.  What I do know is that the founders of both companies recognized the great need for higher quality motel accommodations along America’s highways, thus a business opportunity.  Ramada simply let their competitor go first, identify the strategic locations, and then they would buy the property next door.  Ramada Inn, in other words, was not capitalizing on what their competitor was doing wrong, but on what they were doing right. 

What is it that if you had the opportunity to do it all over again you would do exactly the same?  Ever think about that?  Most of us can think of lots of things we wish we had done differently, the mistakes we have made, but what about those choices and decisions that turned out right?  Those are the things we can capitalize on, providing insights as to how we can be successful in other endeavors. 

In my experience of coaching leaders and business executives a common oversight occurs when in our zeal to fix something that is broken or correct a dysfunction we often neglect to consider the things that are actually working quite well – either directly within the operation, in another area of the organization, or outside the organization such as a competitor.  The result is that we often overlook an idea or solution that is right under our noses. 

The things we do right are not accidents.  They are the result of our diligence and hard work for sure.  But more than that the things we do right – however many or few they may be – provide insights about ourselves, our strengths and abilities, our passions, and our potential for being successful in other endeavors. 

So what has come to mind for you these past few seconds as you’ve read this?  What would you do exactly the same if you had it to do over again?  How might you capitalize on the things you have done right that could make you successful in other endeavors?

We once had a track coach when I was in high school who tried to convince us that there is no limit to how fast we can run, that the only barrier limiting our speed is in our minds not in our physical capacity.  He’s got to be kidding I remember thinking, not with these short legs, that’s why I was a long distance runner, not a sprinter.  But even among the fast guys as I recall no one ever went on to become a record-breaking Olympic gold-medalist, so my teammates must not have believed the coach any more than I did. 

He was right, though, I’ve since learned.  Most of the barriers that hold us back from tackling a challenge or achieving success exist in our minds not because of our limited capacity.  I thought about that recently when we received the exciting news that our third grandchild will be arriving sometime in late September.  It reminded me of the self-doubt I experienced when our second child was on the way.  How can I love the second one as much as the first, I wondered?  Can I provide for a larger family?  Will I be able to devote as much time to the second child as I do with the first without neglecting the older one?  Of course, all those struggles with self-doubt completely vanished the moment I saw the little guy – and the rest is history.  The capacity I had to love and provide time and energy was so much greater than I ever imagined.  The only barrier that had limited me from realizing that in the first place was in my mind. 

On May 6, 1954 in Oxford, England Roger Bannister became the first person on record to run the mile in under four minutes.  Prior to that time the world had deemed it an impossible feat – that there was a limit how fast the human body could run such a grueling distance.  Not so, the coach was trying to convince us. 

On November 9, 1977, the day our second child was born, my capacity to love exploded into a new dimension – not just for our newborn son, but equally so for his older brother, as well as their mother.  And now I have no doubt about my capacity to love our new grandchild every bit as much as his or her older sister and cousin – all three, and their parents, even more!  Coach was right; our limited capacity is all in our minds.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 

On a trip to Mississippi this past weekend we had a chance to take a brief tour of the Vicksburg National Military Park, the site of a long series of significant and bloody Civil War battles.  Being on a tight schedule we did not have time to linger as we would have liked except when we came upon the Vicksburg National Cemetery.  There, it claims, nearly 17,000 Union soldiers are buried, 13,000 of whom are unknown.  Can you imagine?  We did pause there for a while and what I did imagine besides the thousands of slain young men were all the mothers who must have grieved the rest of their lives having never known for sure what happened to their sons and why they never returned home. 

What do you think it means to lay down one’s life for his friends?  For certain it would mean dying in order to save another, but in the scheme of things the large majority of us will never be faced with such circumstances as jumping in front of a bus to save a child or falling on a grenade.  Yet, Jesus seems to be speaking to all of us about laying down our life for a friend, not just the few who must actually choose death to save a life. 

What about parents who sacrifice on behalf of their children so they can have a better life?  Does that count as laying down one’s life?  Or, a teacher committed to the profession of teaching, a doctor or nurse dedicated to healing, an employer endeavoring to keep his company profitable in order to provide jobs for others, or an employee serving his employer to the same end?  What about those who fight to preserve freedom or the ones who strive to conserve the environment?  What about simply living life in such a way that has a positive influence on another?  Are these not examples of laying down one’s life for another?  And surely the grieving mothers of those thousands buried beneath the soil at Vicksburg would have, given the opportunity, died in place of their beloved sons so they could live.  

Laying down one’s life on behalf of another, however that occurs . . . it is indeed the greatest act of love there is, and the only thing that will ever truly give our lives meaning.