Hi friends, I hope you’re taking the time to read The Blast. The story told in this book is about me, a man who aspired to be a U.S. Navy SEAL. The best of the best among the world’s most elite warriors.
I achieved that goal and took a great deal of pride in what I accomplished. Among a BUD/S class of 116 candidates, only 18 graduated. What it takes to become a SEAL is brutal beyond description. So, when you finally have that trident pinned to your chest, they are also pinning a great deal of unhealthy pride and arrogance into your psyche.
In fact, one of the principles they instill in you in training is that you have to believe that you have the power of 10 men living inside of you. In essence, they want you to believe that you are the god of your own destiny. You are trained from the first day that you are the one who controls the outcomes. You literally decide who lives and who dies, who succeeds and who fails.
That principle sounds great until you realize it’s not true. On the outside, you will see that my life appeared to be a great military success. But on the inside, my heart and mind were a hot mess.
From childhood, I was rebellious, arrogant, and felt that I was indestructible. That mentality was only amplified that day I earned that trident. But foolish choice after foolish choice left a trail of damaged lives in their wake. Rebellion as a child, failed marriages, stupid decisions, near-fatal accidents, alcohol addiction, and a host of other vices were what really defined my life.
I could shoot a gun and fight with the best elite warfighters. But inside, my life was quietly destroying me and those around me.
But here’s the glorious message of The Blast. God pursues even the worst of the worst, giving us chance after chance after chance to set aside pride and receive redemption.
I won’t go into the specifics in this post. Suffice it to say that God is the God of second chances, and third and fourth and so on, until we finally realize that what we need is not the power of 10 men inside of us, but rather, the power of one Holy Spirit.
As you read The Blast, I pray that you don’t just see the exploits of a Navy SEAL but, more importantly, see yourself. You begin to understand, perhaps for the first time, that your life doesn’t have to be the sum total of your failures or successes. Instead, you can reach out to your Creator to find the real purpose for which you were made.
In the end, my prayer is that God accomplishes two things in your life as He has for me. First, I pray that you grow to know Christ better and experience His redemptive power in the struggles you face.
Second, I pray that you see the profound call on your life to make Him known to others. In my case, it took a blast to set my heart ablaze, pun intended. For everyone, the journey will be different, but the power and destiny can be the same.
May God bless you in the journey.