Sgt. Jacob Daniel DeShazer was a crew member in the legendary Doolittle Raiders, a team of 80 brave military servicemen who volunteered to bomb Tokyo in retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. DeShazer was among those captured by the Japanese Army after bailing out of his plane over Japanese-occupied China. He spent 40 months in captivity, 34 months of it in solitary confinement, and was the victim of cruel torture and starvation. In his own words, DeShazer said, “My hatred for the enemy nearly drove me crazy. . .
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 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, 2022, twenty-nine 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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