When Your Time’s Up, Your Time’s Up…

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What would you do if you knew that until you accomplished what you were put here to do, that you could not be harmed? That there would be a protection around you as you go about the task of achieving your purpose in life?

One evening a few months ago, I was having a beer with my uncle Richie. He was a Marine in Vietnam during 1966-1967. He was one of only 2 guys from his original unit to complete their combat tour in Vietnam. Everyone else had either been killed or wounded and sent home. He was an engineer (similar to EOD or explosive ordinance disposal in today’s military) and personally diffused land mines comrades had stepped on, but not stepped off. The mine made a clicking sound when pressure was applied to the top arming the mine. Once the person steps off the mine it explodes. Imagine having your face inches away from a mine trying to diffuse it with your buddy standing on top of it. There is always the chance of an enemy ambush at any moment. That could cause the mine to blow up in your face when the Marine standing on it steps off or is shot and falls off. Boom!

His second day in country, one of his friends stepped on a land mine and it blew his legs off. As my uncles buddy was laying on the ground bleeding and in shock he says “I can’t believe I came to Vietnam and on the 2nd day I get my legs blown off.” Another day my uncle and his unit were taking incoming mortar rounds as everyone was scrambling to jump into their fox holes and take cover. He was running towards a fox hole when a mortar round went off behind him. It felt like he got hit with a car as he was propelled from the impact to the ground. He turned around to see what or who had hit him and was on top of him. His initial thought was maybe he got hit with a tree branch. The radio guy was behind him when they were running. After the explosion, what was left of the radio guy, was what hit my uncle from behind. When he turned around, he realized a headless torso missing the legs and arms with the still attached radio pack was what had hit him. Only seconds earlier they had been talking. Now the radio guy was dead and my uncle was covered in what was left of his fellow Marine’s body. Can you imagine that? Being covered in the blood, flesh and bone of a friend who only seconds ago was alive and talking to you.

After watching his buddies being killed or severely wounded seemingly at random, my uncle realized that… when your times up. Your times up! For the rest of his combat tour he did all the things he was not supposed to do. He walked on top of the dikes for the rice patties even though the Vietcong regularly mined them. Why? He did not want to get his boots or feet wet. He realized that if it was his time to go, that there was nothing he could do about it. So he figured, he might as well be comfortable.

I have had several close calls in my life as a child and as an adult where if I would have been an inch off from where I was, I would have been killed or severely injured. I sensed early in childhood that some invisible force had kept me totally safe when I should have been toast.

Due to my own life experiences, experiences of family and friends and when looking at history, its easy to come to a conclusion. Until you have lived and fulfilled your purpose and destiny in life, you can not be harmed. Now it does not mean you go and jump off a high rise building expecting God to save you from going SPLAT! But it does mean that you should pursue your dreams and goals without fear. The bottom line is that God had a plan when he designed you. He had a purpose in mind. What that purpose is, is between you and God. The more you can listen to and follow your heart, the happier and more fulfilled you will be in life.

I don’t believe in random events in life or things that happen by accident. When a plane crashes and only a handful of people survive, or a baby is the lone survivor, that is the way things are supposed to be. When a bull at a bullfight jumps into the stands trying to get away and crushes several people to death, I don’t look at that as some horrible accident or tragedy. That is simply how those people left this world.

When I am talking with military vets who have recently returned home from war and are trying to make sense of why certain guys died and yet they come out unscathed, I explain that it’s the way its supposed to be. When they feel the guilt of having had to shoot and kill people, I tell them its the way it was supposed to be. They wanted to die and you wanted to live. You were simply the instrument of their exit from this world. A guy who runs into the open dressed in a dishda and flip-flops, holding an AK-47 assault rifle and spraying it wildly at US Marines like they do in the old Rambo movies; that guy has no will to live. He is not trying to stay alive. He is trying to get killed by our troops because he has been manipulated into believing he will go to heaven and get his 72 virgins.

What happened, happened like it was supposed to. “There is no imperfection. You’ve only ever done what you were meant to do.” – Panache Desai

Here is a video of Inspirational Speaker Andy Andrews. A fantastic storyteller who shares the Civil war era story of Joshua Chamberlain, whose actions as an officer in the Union Army 150 years ago have helped to shape not only America, but the entire world. Its a fascinating story of bravery and most importantly, further evidence from history that until you have done what you were put here to do in this life, that you can not be harmed:

“Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself makes you fearless.” ~ Lao Tzu