Omaha Beach

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount." -- General Omar Bradley

General Omar Bradley was a 5-Star General in the US Army during World War II and was witness to many of the struggles faced during that time including the invasion on Omaha Beach…one of the fiercest and toughest battles of the war. A battle of proportion that the majority of us will never have to face.

I find the last sentence of General Bradley’s quote particularly interesting. As people with incredible minds and a vast amount of knowledge we have the tendency to over-think and over-complicate things. We do exactly as General Bradley mentions here. We dissect and figure out the mystery of the atom but we dismiss the Sermon on the Mount. While there is value and great benefit to be gained by figuring out the atom it is rather useless if we dismiss the simplicity of living to be gleaned in the Sermon on the Mount.

It is rather interesting to me also that Jesus, in all of his knowledge (of absolutely everything) shared what is considered…and rightfully so…the greatest sermon ever preached, and it basically amounts to about 10-minutes at the most of talking. In these several minutes of preaching Jesus laid out the principles for living. He gave us the knowledge we need to live successfully and peacefully. He laid out a plan to live our lives on and with purpose.

I think General Bradley in his experience and with what he saw and experienced during his lifetime was able to appreciate this. Having lived a life full of passion and total commitment to what he loved to do I believe he left very little on the table. He put it all out there. I totally believe that the reason so many people get caught up in complicating simple issues is because they have not totally committed themselves to what they are really called to do out of fear instilled in them by the world.

The world has set its standards and the world has laid out how you meet their standards. When you decide to persue something that looks different than this you are bound to meet criticism and skepticism. It is much more acceptable to work hard at something that looks more like the worlds accepted model but yet may not fit your purpose…and spend your extra time creating solutions to complicated issues that really don’t need to be solved…than it is to pursue your calling that doesn’t fit in the worlds box.

Jesus summed it up in the world’s greatest sermon that lasted ten-minutes or less. It isn’t complicated. It isn’t all that profound. But it is incredibly true and applicable.

If you’re called to grasp the mystery of the atom, then by all means do it. If you are called to sweep floors then do it well. But, if you’re called to grasp the mystery of the atom…don’t do it half-heartedly while dreaming of sweeping floors. And if you’re called to sweep floors don’t do it half-heartedly while dreaming of atoms.

General Omar Bradley had one thing on his mind as he and his men landed on Omaha Beach…he wasn’t thinking of anything else. That is the only way they made it through the invasion at Omaha Beach. Through perseverance and a commitment to his calling, General Omar Bradley had 35,000 men on the shore of a beach that stretched 5.5 miles long and a ½ mile wide. While they lost over 2,500 men…it could have been many, many more if any one of them had committed anything less than there all.

While you and I may not be in a battle that consists of bullets piercing the waters around us we know that the battle we are currently facing is no less real. The thing that will get us through is our commitment to stay true to our calling, and not allow the temptation to complicate the simple calling that rests on our life.

The truth is that even a calling that seems complicated to others will be simple to you if that is truly your calling.

Matthew 7:28-29 – “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”

Have a blessed day,

RodZ

© 2008 – Rodney Zimmerman – All rights reserved