Heroic Resolve
Where does heroic resolve come from?
I have a shadow box that contains the Purple Heart that my great uncle Orville received for valor in WWII.
His entire battalion was the only defense from the Germans breaking through a weak spot in the Allied lines, in the Battle of the Bulge. There was no chance of air support in the stormy weather, and it was uncertain when, or even if, re-reinforcements would arrive. They had the opportunity to retreat, under the cover of darkness, but that would mean giving the Germans the high ground, and making it much easier for the Germans to break through the line of the Allies.
Even if the Allies took back their position, it was certain that it would be very costly in terms of Allied lives. They had only recently arrived, and were untested in battle, but they decided to fight to the last man, if necessary, rather than to retreat. They were the very definition of valor.
Soon, their resolve was tested. A German force that was superior in numbers, experience, and armaments, launched a full fledged attack. The causalities were high, as the Germans sent in wave after wave of soldiers. When re-enforcements finally arrived, all but six members of his battalion had been killed. They had kept their resolve and held their ground. The Germans had been denied breaking through the Allied lines, because of their heroic resolve.
My uncle Orville was wounded in the battle, and fell to the ground, but still was determined to fight until the very end. Eventually, he was overwhelmed, and a German soldier bayonet several times in the abdomen, but he still fought back with all of his might. Just as he was losing consciousness from his blood loss, the German soldier raised his bayonet for the kill stroke to the heart. However, his friend shot and killed the German soldier, before he could thrust his bayonet downward.
Next, he woke up in a military hospital. His chances of survival were negligible. Yet, after months of being hospitalized, he recovered. He never saw action again, and went back to the farm, where he lived to be well over eighty years of age.
Even though the Army gave him a Purple Heart, for bravery above and beyond the call of duty, he never really considered himself to be a hero. In fact, I did not even know that he got the Purple Heart, until I was given it at his funeral. As far as he was concerned, he was just another American man, who answered when his country called for help. He was just doing his part.
If you asked him, he was no more of a hero than his brother Harley.
Harley could not go to war, because someone had to take of the farm, and their elderly parents. Harley did the work of two men for years, often working for sixteen hours a day, six days a week, so his brother could go and defend America from the Nazi threat. He also had to keep the farm going, because he was helping to feed the troops, as well as the rest of the country. The work was all consuming, and he had no chance of socializing. He continued this lonely life of hard work, because he was also committed, to lay down his life to take care of others. He never considered, that he did anything extraordinary. He was just doing his part.
The truth is I had two hero uncles, one who went to war, and one who made it possible, for his brother to go to war. They both made tremendous sacrifices, to answer when their country called for help. They were both resolved to do their part, to keep America free. They both had heroic resolve.
This is why Uncle Orville, never thought of himself as any more of a hero than his brother Harley.
So when you are thanking those, who had the heroic resolve to place themselves in the line of fire, and stand up against evil, remember, that there was also heroic resolve on the home front, that made it possible for them to do so. Do not forget that their families, also made incredible sacrifices, that they deserve to be thanked for.
Not everyone has this kind of heroic resolve, so where did they get their heroic resolve from?
The secret to their heroic resolve, and humble demeanor, was their faith in the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ), which they had been raised up in.
There should have only been five survivors of his battalion, but the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) gave the friend of Uncle Orville, that single, split-second opportunity, while fighting for his own life, to take the shot, that killed that German soldier. That German soldier would finished off Uncle Orville, if that frantic shot made in dim light, battle smoke, and heavy fog, had missed its mark. If re-enforcements had arrived any later, and the medic had not acted quickly to stuff cloth in those wounds, contrary to standard practice, Uncle Orville would bled out on the battle field. If all there was to his recovery, was the skill of the doctors and their meager supplies, which Uncle Orville was low on the list to receive, due to the shortage of supplies and his likeliness of dying anyways, then Uncle Orville would have died in the hospital.
However, Uncle Harley, his father, and the women who were left behind, never stopped praying for Uncle Orville to come back to them.
The Father of Truth heard their prayers and answered them.
On the home front, the family should have lost the farm. One man was left, to take care of the farm, and while helping his sister, take care of their elderly parents. The farm work was exhausting, and never ending. Working through all kinds of weather, from the blazing hot summers, to the freezing cold winters, should have worn him out completely.
However, Uncle Harley, his father and the women left behind, asked the Father of Truth for strength, to make it just one more day, every day, until Uncle Orville returned, to help take care of the farm, after he got strong enough.
They asked for favor from the bank, when it looked like the farm loan would default. They asked for money to pay off that loan, when there seemed to be no hope of getting enough money, to even make the payments that were due. They knew that they had to work hard to keep the farm, but they also knew, that it was beyond their own strength to keep the farm.
The Father of Truth heard their prayers and answered them.
I am sure, that they were not the only people praying, for their loved ones who were fighting in the war. I am sure, that they were not the only family, who faced financial hardship, and exhausting work, just to keep what they had, so that their loved one, could go fight in the war. Yet their prayers were answered, while the prayers of some other people were not.
What made the difference, was how they lived their lives, long before Uncle Orville, was called upon to defend American, from the Nazis. They had been already been acting with heroic resolve, for their whole lives, before that day ever came. They had heroic resolve, in the darkest chapter of their lives, because they had already been acting in faith, on what was written in the Book of Truth (The Bible), on a consistent basis.
They had faith, that the Father of Truth could bring Uncle Orville, back from the brink of death, because of His protection of their family from the Wu Shu Flu. (That was what it was called in rural Arkansas, because it was believed to have originated in China, but more commonly called the Spanish flu in larger cities.)
This flu killed more people in 1918, than WWI did in its entirety. Many of their neighbors died of this deadly flu, in some cases, entire households. Yet not one member of their family, even got a sniffle, despite constant contact with the infected, as they attended to their sick neighbors, and helped to bury those who succumbed to the flu.
Heroic resolve comes easier, when you know that the Father of Truth is protecting you.
Then later, their younger brother, named Quinton, died as an infant, from what may have been cystic fibrosis.
Their mother was devastated, and just laid in bed crying, for days. Then one morning, they found her, dressed, smiling, and making breakfast for the family. Eventually, their father asked her, what had brought about such a dramatic turnaround.
She told them about, how an Angel of Truth had stood at the foot of her bed with a message from the Man of Truth. The message was, "Quit crying for Quinton, he is me, get up and take care of your family!". When she told them what happened, they simply lost all fear of death, at that moment.
Heroic resolve comes easier, when you know that you will be with the Man of Truth, when you die.
Then years later, the resolve of their father was tested again.
The Klu Klux Klan (KKK) constantly terrorized their black neighbors. Their father was pressured to join the KKK, but refused to be part of America at its worst. Instead, he did what he could to help his black neighbors, who were share croppers like him. Several times, he hid some of them, who the KKK was seeking to lynch, and helped them escape. In the face of the KKK, he showed heroic resolve.
Eventually, he was warned that the KKK was coming for him. (One third of the people lynched by the KKK, were white people who refused to join the KKK, or who the KKK thought were helping black people escape.)
So he packed up his family, with their meager belongings, and they started, literally, working their way to northwest Arkansas, where the KKK did not have the kind of control over law enforcement, that it had in the Nashville, Arkansas area.
When he arrived there, they could not find adequate work as sharecroppers.
They wanted land of their own, but there was none that they could afford in northwest Arkansas. They learned of some land, near Chewy, Oklahoma, that was for sale, which they could afford, because most white people did not want to live in the midst of the Cherokee.
It did not matter to their father what race his neighbors were, as long as they were not like those awful white people, which he had grown up among in southern Arkansas. It did not even matter, that many of his neighbors could not speak English. (My grandfather used to peddle apples in Chewy, and had learned to speak Cherokee, because some of his customers could not speak English.)
So my grandfather helped them secure a loan, and they began a new life, in a strange land, surrounded by unfamiliar people.
Uncle Orville, and Uncle Harley, had learned heroic resolve from their father. They learned how to stand up against evil, from the actions of their father. They learned how to leave behind everything familiar, and trust the Father of Truth to take care of them, rather than let evil people intimidate them, into consenting to their evil deeds, by doing nothing.
Heroic resolve comes easier, when your father has demonstrated it, in his own life.
The heroic resolve of their father, and their family, came out of their daily relationship, with the Man of Truth.
They kept the Sabbath to best of their understanding, by giving one day a week over to resting from their work, and congregating together with the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him). They were never bored on the Sabbath, because they kept it faithfully, to the best of their understanding of the Book of Truth. However, their relationship with the Man of Truth, went a lot deeper, than some sort of once-a-week religious duty. They did not just read the Book of Truth, they lived out what they read, so that all who were around them, could tell who they belonged to (2 Corinthians 3:2).
They prayed to the Father of Truth, and relied on Him, in both good times and bad times (Luke 18:1). They did not let evil overcome them, but overcame evil with good (Romans 12:21). They did not get drunk, or become involved in sex outside of marriage, or the like that comes from being controlled, by the desires of sinful flesh, but instead constantly lived a life of gentleness, kindness, self control, and the like that comes from being controlled, by the desires of the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) (Galatians 5:19-23). They never sought a hand out, but they always were willing to give a hand up, to anyone in need (Ephesians 4:27-29). I never once heard any of them ever speak, a single word of profanity, or utter one impure thing, and they always did whatever they promised (Colossians 3:8-10). They did not participate in hatred, for any reason, because they believed that anyone who hated people, but said that they loved the Father of Truth, was a liar (1 John 4:20).
If Captain America had a real life inspiration, it could have been them. They were America at its best.
Their heroic resolve came from the Man of Truth. He is the greatest example of heroic resolve that ever lived.
My Uncle Orville resolved to stand his ground, when his position was surprise attacked by the Germans, knowing that he might die, but the Man of Truth was determined ahead of time, to go to Jerusalem, where he knew for certain, that he would die (Luke 9:51). He had been born to die, to save the human race (John 3:14-17). He was not some hapless victim of the Romans, or anyone else, but rather laid down his life willingly, because he learned heroic resolve, from his Father (John 10:17-18). The Man of Truth died the most horrible of deaths, because it was either him or us - and there was no way he was going to let it be us (Romans 5:7-9). The Man of Truth knew, that he would not die from a relatively quick death, like my uncle Orville faced, but from crucifixion - which the Romans considered to be the worst way to die, and they had taken torturous death, to a whole new level (Philippians 2:6-8). He died the worst of deaths, and endured the worst of insults, because he had heroic resolve, to save the human race (Hebrews 12:2-3). He was the very definition of heroic resolve.
You can also get heroic resolve, if you will come into the House of Truth, by making the Man of Truth your commanding officer, in every area of your life, because you believe, that his Father raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The Father of Truth is not waiting for you to straighten yourself out, before you can come into the House of Truth, but rather sent the Man of Truth, to demonstrate heroic resolve, so you can be straightened out, by coming into the House of Truth (1 Timothy 1:14-16). He sent the Man of Truth, to die a horrible death, so the Man of Truth could be the captain, of every area of your life, when you come into the House of Truth (Hebrews 2:9-11). When you come into the House of Truth, he will free you from the fear of death, because you will know the one who gives people, heroic resolve (Hebrews 2:14-18).
Come into the House of Truth!
I have a shadow box that contains the Purple Heart that my great uncle Orville received for valor in WWII.
His entire battalion was the only defense from the Germans breaking through a weak spot in the Allied lines, in the Battle of the Bulge. There was no chance of air support in the stormy weather, and it was uncertain when, or even if, re-reinforcements would arrive. They had the opportunity to retreat, under the cover of darkness, but that would mean giving the Germans the high ground, and making it much easier for the Germans to break through the line of the Allies.
Even if the Allies took back their position, it was certain that it would be very costly in terms of Allied lives. They had only recently arrived, and were untested in battle, but they decided to fight to the last man, if necessary, rather than to retreat. They were the very definition of valor.
Soon, their resolve was tested. A German force that was superior in numbers, experience, and armaments, launched a full fledged attack. The causalities were high, as the Germans sent in wave after wave of soldiers. When re-enforcements finally arrived, all but six members of his battalion had been killed. They had kept their resolve and held their ground. The Germans had been denied breaking through the Allied lines, because of their heroic resolve.
My uncle Orville was wounded in the battle, and fell to the ground, but still was determined to fight until the very end. Eventually, he was overwhelmed, and a German soldier bayonet several times in the abdomen, but he still fought back with all of his might. Just as he was losing consciousness from his blood loss, the German soldier raised his bayonet for the kill stroke to the heart. However, his friend shot and killed the German soldier, before he could thrust his bayonet downward.
Next, he woke up in a military hospital. His chances of survival were negligible. Yet, after months of being hospitalized, he recovered. He never saw action again, and went back to the farm, where he lived to be well over eighty years of age.
Even though the Army gave him a Purple Heart, for bravery above and beyond the call of duty, he never really considered himself to be a hero. In fact, I did not even know that he got the Purple Heart, until I was given it at his funeral. As far as he was concerned, he was just another American man, who answered when his country called for help. He was just doing his part.
If you asked him, he was no more of a hero than his brother Harley.
Harley could not go to war, because someone had to take of the farm, and their elderly parents. Harley did the work of two men for years, often working for sixteen hours a day, six days a week, so his brother could go and defend America from the Nazi threat. He also had to keep the farm going, because he was helping to feed the troops, as well as the rest of the country. The work was all consuming, and he had no chance of socializing. He continued this lonely life of hard work, because he was also committed, to lay down his life to take care of others. He never considered, that he did anything extraordinary. He was just doing his part.
The truth is I had two hero uncles, one who went to war, and one who made it possible, for his brother to go to war. They both made tremendous sacrifices, to answer when their country called for help. They were both resolved to do their part, to keep America free. They both had heroic resolve.
This is why Uncle Orville, never thought of himself as any more of a hero than his brother Harley.
So when you are thanking those, who had the heroic resolve to place themselves in the line of fire, and stand up against evil, remember, that there was also heroic resolve on the home front, that made it possible for them to do so. Do not forget that their families, also made incredible sacrifices, that they deserve to be thanked for.
Not everyone has this kind of heroic resolve, so where did they get their heroic resolve from?
The secret to their heroic resolve, and humble demeanor, was their faith in the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ), which they had been raised up in.
There should have only been five survivors of his battalion, but the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) gave the friend of Uncle Orville, that single, split-second opportunity, while fighting for his own life, to take the shot, that killed that German soldier. That German soldier would finished off Uncle Orville, if that frantic shot made in dim light, battle smoke, and heavy fog, had missed its mark. If re-enforcements had arrived any later, and the medic had not acted quickly to stuff cloth in those wounds, contrary to standard practice, Uncle Orville would bled out on the battle field. If all there was to his recovery, was the skill of the doctors and their meager supplies, which Uncle Orville was low on the list to receive, due to the shortage of supplies and his likeliness of dying anyways, then Uncle Orville would have died in the hospital.
However, Uncle Harley, his father, and the women who were left behind, never stopped praying for Uncle Orville to come back to them.
The Father of Truth heard their prayers and answered them.
On the home front, the family should have lost the farm. One man was left, to take care of the farm, and while helping his sister, take care of their elderly parents. The farm work was exhausting, and never ending. Working through all kinds of weather, from the blazing hot summers, to the freezing cold winters, should have worn him out completely.
However, Uncle Harley, his father and the women left behind, asked the Father of Truth for strength, to make it just one more day, every day, until Uncle Orville returned, to help take care of the farm, after he got strong enough.
They asked for favor from the bank, when it looked like the farm loan would default. They asked for money to pay off that loan, when there seemed to be no hope of getting enough money, to even make the payments that were due. They knew that they had to work hard to keep the farm, but they also knew, that it was beyond their own strength to keep the farm.
The Father of Truth heard their prayers and answered them.
I am sure, that they were not the only people praying, for their loved ones who were fighting in the war. I am sure, that they were not the only family, who faced financial hardship, and exhausting work, just to keep what they had, so that their loved one, could go fight in the war. Yet their prayers were answered, while the prayers of some other people were not.
What made the difference, was how they lived their lives, long before Uncle Orville, was called upon to defend American, from the Nazis. They had been already been acting with heroic resolve, for their whole lives, before that day ever came. They had heroic resolve, in the darkest chapter of their lives, because they had already been acting in faith, on what was written in the Book of Truth (The Bible), on a consistent basis.
They had faith, that the Father of Truth could bring Uncle Orville, back from the brink of death, because of His protection of their family from the Wu Shu Flu. (That was what it was called in rural Arkansas, because it was believed to have originated in China, but more commonly called the Spanish flu in larger cities.)
This flu killed more people in 1918, than WWI did in its entirety. Many of their neighbors died of this deadly flu, in some cases, entire households. Yet not one member of their family, even got a sniffle, despite constant contact with the infected, as they attended to their sick neighbors, and helped to bury those who succumbed to the flu.
Heroic resolve comes easier, when you know that the Father of Truth is protecting you.
Then later, their younger brother, named Quinton, died as an infant, from what may have been cystic fibrosis.
Their mother was devastated, and just laid in bed crying, for days. Then one morning, they found her, dressed, smiling, and making breakfast for the family. Eventually, their father asked her, what had brought about such a dramatic turnaround.
She told them about, how an Angel of Truth had stood at the foot of her bed with a message from the Man of Truth. The message was, "Quit crying for Quinton, he is me, get up and take care of your family!". When she told them what happened, they simply lost all fear of death, at that moment.
Heroic resolve comes easier, when you know that you will be with the Man of Truth, when you die.
Then years later, the resolve of their father was tested again.
The Klu Klux Klan (KKK) constantly terrorized their black neighbors. Their father was pressured to join the KKK, but refused to be part of America at its worst. Instead, he did what he could to help his black neighbors, who were share croppers like him. Several times, he hid some of them, who the KKK was seeking to lynch, and helped them escape. In the face of the KKK, he showed heroic resolve.
Eventually, he was warned that the KKK was coming for him. (One third of the people lynched by the KKK, were white people who refused to join the KKK, or who the KKK thought were helping black people escape.)
So he packed up his family, with their meager belongings, and they started, literally, working their way to northwest Arkansas, where the KKK did not have the kind of control over law enforcement, that it had in the Nashville, Arkansas area.
When he arrived there, they could not find adequate work as sharecroppers.
They wanted land of their own, but there was none that they could afford in northwest Arkansas. They learned of some land, near Chewy, Oklahoma, that was for sale, which they could afford, because most white people did not want to live in the midst of the Cherokee.
It did not matter to their father what race his neighbors were, as long as they were not like those awful white people, which he had grown up among in southern Arkansas. It did not even matter, that many of his neighbors could not speak English. (My grandfather used to peddle apples in Chewy, and had learned to speak Cherokee, because some of his customers could not speak English.)
So my grandfather helped them secure a loan, and they began a new life, in a strange land, surrounded by unfamiliar people.
Uncle Orville, and Uncle Harley, had learned heroic resolve from their father. They learned how to stand up against evil, from the actions of their father. They learned how to leave behind everything familiar, and trust the Father of Truth to take care of them, rather than let evil people intimidate them, into consenting to their evil deeds, by doing nothing.
Heroic resolve comes easier, when your father has demonstrated it, in his own life.
The heroic resolve of their father, and their family, came out of their daily relationship, with the Man of Truth.
They kept the Sabbath to best of their understanding, by giving one day a week over to resting from their work, and congregating together with the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him). They were never bored on the Sabbath, because they kept it faithfully, to the best of their understanding of the Book of Truth. However, their relationship with the Man of Truth, went a lot deeper, than some sort of once-a-week religious duty. They did not just read the Book of Truth, they lived out what they read, so that all who were around them, could tell who they belonged to (2 Corinthians 3:2).
They prayed to the Father of Truth, and relied on Him, in both good times and bad times (Luke 18:1). They did not let evil overcome them, but overcame evil with good (Romans 12:21). They did not get drunk, or become involved in sex outside of marriage, or the like that comes from being controlled, by the desires of sinful flesh, but instead constantly lived a life of gentleness, kindness, self control, and the like that comes from being controlled, by the desires of the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) (Galatians 5:19-23). They never sought a hand out, but they always were willing to give a hand up, to anyone in need (Ephesians 4:27-29). I never once heard any of them ever speak, a single word of profanity, or utter one impure thing, and they always did whatever they promised (Colossians 3:8-10). They did not participate in hatred, for any reason, because they believed that anyone who hated people, but said that they loved the Father of Truth, was a liar (1 John 4:20).
If Captain America had a real life inspiration, it could have been them. They were America at its best.
Their heroic resolve came from the Man of Truth. He is the greatest example of heroic resolve that ever lived.
My Uncle Orville resolved to stand his ground, when his position was surprise attacked by the Germans, knowing that he might die, but the Man of Truth was determined ahead of time, to go to Jerusalem, where he knew for certain, that he would die (Luke 9:51). He had been born to die, to save the human race (John 3:14-17). He was not some hapless victim of the Romans, or anyone else, but rather laid down his life willingly, because he learned heroic resolve, from his Father (John 10:17-18). The Man of Truth died the most horrible of deaths, because it was either him or us - and there was no way he was going to let it be us (Romans 5:7-9). The Man of Truth knew, that he would not die from a relatively quick death, like my uncle Orville faced, but from crucifixion - which the Romans considered to be the worst way to die, and they had taken torturous death, to a whole new level (Philippians 2:6-8). He died the worst of deaths, and endured the worst of insults, because he had heroic resolve, to save the human race (Hebrews 12:2-3). He was the very definition of heroic resolve.
You can also get heroic resolve, if you will come into the House of Truth, by making the Man of Truth your commanding officer, in every area of your life, because you believe, that his Father raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). The Father of Truth is not waiting for you to straighten yourself out, before you can come into the House of Truth, but rather sent the Man of Truth, to demonstrate heroic resolve, so you can be straightened out, by coming into the House of Truth (1 Timothy 1:14-16). He sent the Man of Truth, to die a horrible death, so the Man of Truth could be the captain, of every area of your life, when you come into the House of Truth (Hebrews 2:9-11). When you come into the House of Truth, he will free you from the fear of death, because you will know the one who gives people, heroic resolve (Hebrews 2:14-18).
Come into the House of Truth!
Labels: Courage, History, Ozarks, Veterans Day
posted by The House Of Truth @ November 10, 2015
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