In our home we teach grace and mercy and forgiveness, and not if you fall, but when.

 

There seems to be a false narrative coursing through the collective mind that Christians are narrow minded, judgmental, and intolerant.  Every segment of the population has “those” people who form a more extreme view, but the few do not represent the whole.

 

Private Doss in Hacksaw Ridge had a belief system. His beliefs did not fit in with the norm, with the way everyone else did it, had done it, and the remarkable thing is, his beliefs and his amazing heroics were accomplished in spite of the narrative.

 

Private Doss accomplished more through love and not killing than a platoon of men armed to the teeth.

 

What’s my point?

 

Well, Jesus didn’t love. He was love.

 

And His love knew no boundaries, just as a parent’s love knows no boundaries. We love unconditionally, but that doesn’t mean we do not hold our children accountable.

 

We are blessed in America with freedom…to believe…whatever that looks like to you.

 

Everyone was against Private Doss. Everyone ridiculed him. He was shamed and shunned and beaten and imprisoned, and still he stood. In the face of insurmountable odds, he not only stood, he loved in the midst of it all.

 

How can you love in the midst of it all?

How can you stand when everyone else plots your fall?

 

No one said it would be easy.

No one promised you a rose garden.

 

Private Doss didn’t flaunt his beliefs. He didn’t beat anyone over the head with the bible.

 

Private Doss just stayed true to who he was. True to his faith and calling, seeking to help and heal rather than maim and kill.

 

It’s a war zone out there. How can we navigate the land mines, the sniper fire, and the bombs?

 

Maybe like Private Doss we can ask, “What do you want of me?”

 

Then listen, and say, “o.k.”

 

Just one more.