Surviving the Cut

While on vacation this summer, my boys and I enjoyed several episodes of the Discovery Channel’s “Surviving the Cut.” Have you seen this show? It documents the intense and sometime brutal vetting of special operation soldiers. In one episode from Coronado Island in San Diego, CA, underwater combat divers were being weeded out. Trainers ambushed the divers underwater, tore their dive masks off, shut off their oxygen tanks, and tied their regulator hoses together, all while submersed in 50 degree water at a depth of twenty feet. These guys barely avoided drowning, much less got their gear back in place. It was unbelievable! Many of them tapped out. Only a select few “survived the cut.”

You know what struck me most about that show? The contrast with my own experience on Coronado Island! You see, I’ve been there. But rather than enduring brutal military training, I sat on the veranda of the Hotel Del Coronado (a beautiful 120 year old seaside resort) and had one of the best meals of my life! The setting was incredible… an historic inn, the setting sun, warm ocean breezes, and melt-in-your-mouth tenderloin steak.

So why do I mention all of this? Because I often find myself pleading with God for the veranda life and instead experience something more akin to “surviving the cut.”

Last week, I was feeling exceptionally weary and discouraged by life and ministry. So, I went to a little chapel hangout of mine to pray. I was asking God for His affirmation, a sense of His presence, and confirmation that He was for me. I spent two hours there. And God was silent. He seemed distant. In my disappointment, I turned to the book of Hebrews (which we just finished studying at Glenstone) and read these words: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons” (Heb 12:7,8). Can I be honest with you? It wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear. I wanted an experience with God on the veranda that day. Instead, He gave me reasoning behind enduring hardship! Images of “Surviving the Cut” came to mind with special op trainers beating the crap out of the soldiers. Oh man. Not what I wanted to hear. The one consolation – the trainers aren’t doing it to be mean, but to prepare soldiers for the realities of war.

I don’t know what you are facing this week. I hope for your sake it is “the veranda life.” I really do. But if life feels more like “surviving the cut”, then know this: 1) you’re not alone, and 2) God is in the business of raising up tough kids.

Peace out,

Scott