Sometimes . . . when someone has experienced a tragedy, it’s best to sit with them in silence. Not always, but sometimes. Alistair Begg, senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio, calls that “Eloquent Silence.”
I remember one of our local chaplains telling us about a visit he made to a Navy family in the housing area whose baby had died. When he arrived, he sat with the couple on the front porch. Just sat with them. Later the couple told him that was the most helpful thing he could have done at the time. He acted according to Romans 12:15, “. . . mourn with those who mourn.”
Returning to “Black Hawk Down” with Bulletproof Faith
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“Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, ‘I am slipping!’ but Your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” — Psalm 94:17-19
Can you identify with the writer in the verses above—hanging on just as his fingers were losing their grip on hope? Sgt. Jeff Struecker called out to God in just that way in the Somalian battle of 1993 which we call “Black Hawk Down.” As the fight became more intense and his hope for survival gone, he cried out in desperation, “God I need your help, I’m in over my head!”
He remembered that Jesus had prayed similar words at Gethsemane, “God, if there is any way possible, let this cup pass from me.”And he also remembered that Jesus added, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Struecker knew that whether he lived or died at that moment, he was safely in God’s hands.
Sgt Struecker, then Chaplain Struecker and now Pastor Struecker, remembered God’s promises from the Bible: God’s provision which is daily, God’s faithful power to save, God’s perspective of life and death, and God’s presence on the home front or battlefield.
We can see another similarity in the psalmist’s words and Struecker’s testimony—they were both faithful to declare to others that God can be trusted, no matter what. We need to hear that—we need to know that—we need to proclaim that.
And Jeff Struecker with a team of film-makers did just that in the newly-released short film, “Return to Mogadishu.” We have embedded that film for you in hopes that you can take the nine minutes to share Jeff’s “journey back”. This was an emotional journey—one which gave Struecker a chance to ponder, once more, what God did in his life and the lives of others during that fateful mission—and the chance to proclaim, once again, the faithfulness of God.
Our prayer is that Struecker’s story will encourage you to experience the realities of Psalm 94 in this year, 2013, twenty years since.
Work cited:
Struecker, Jeff. The Road to Unafraid: How the Army’s Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage through Black Hawk Down and Beyond (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006)
Questions to Share:
1. Share the story of a moment when you were desperate for help, and you called out to God.
2. How did God provide for you in that moment?
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