True Courage

I have written about courage before, but now I have experienced it firsthand in Washington D.C over this past weekend. On Friday my dad and I went to a dinner sponsored by a charity called No Greater Sacrifice or NGS; NGS is a relatively young foundation that does a great thing by giving scholarships and other financial aid to the children of fallen soldiers. It was that night that I learned what true courage and sacrifice really mean. There was a slideshow for one particular marine who had he died in battle, and his father was sitting at the table next to me and I heard him say “That’s my son” as he fought back tears for the rest of the presentation. In our society we can sometimes get a distorted view of bravery and courage. Some guys think it’s better to get into a fist fight than keep your cool, or that the more dangerous you act the braver you are. What I saw on Friday contradicts that, true courage comes from God and is shown by standing up and doing the right thing no matter how hard it is. True courage comes from not backing down even though you’re outnumbered and never giving up on what you believe in. The main event of the night was when General David H. Petraeus received the freedom award, and during his speech God spoke to me through a Bible verse he used, the verse is Isaiah 6: 8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I (Isaiah) said, “Here am I. Send me!” Petraeus went on to say how that is the attitude of the marines, but I had a thought, the marines are truly brave and courageous people who emulate Christ by laying down their lives but why should they be the only ones? I say this, in my own community wherever I am this is what I (and I hope those who read this) will do, I am going to stand up for what’s right and for other people and emulate Christ, I am going to ask God to send me. NGS is a great charity and I highly recommend making a contribution just go to www.nogreatersacrifice.org.