Willing?

In order to win wars somebody must be willing to die.  This may be a crude way of putting it but stuff happens in war.  People die.  Lives are destroyed.  It hurts.  If one is not willing to die then there is no point in responding to the fight even if it is brought to you.  This conundrum touches more parts of our lives than we are willing to acknowledge.  As a result we are not prepared to fully and completely engage, to win.  Often one finds oneself on the edge of fully and completely engaging.  The fight is coming our way.  We have a simple choice.  Do we accept the battle, risk all, and go for the win?  Do we go into battle with the illusion that everything is safe and we can protect what is most sacred?  The latter is the first step to losing, the first to winning.
 
I am not suggesting that every battle is solved with violence.  I am suggesting that even with peaceful means bad things happen.  Lives can as easily be destroyed with a word as a sword.  Hearts are torn more easily by actions that are not physical.  The beaches of a battle may give one a higher chance of living than the corporate battlefield we face everyday. 
 
Can you imagine a baseball player trying to win by not failing?  There would be no chance of scoring a run!  Can you think of any sporting even where not being willing to risk all is the way to win?  It doesn’t happen.  Things are no different in any part of life.  In order to win we must be willing to risk all.
 
An old clich? has come from one of Jesus’ sayings.  “I am the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary.”  (John 10.11)  Yet it is as true today as it was when it the original words came out over the sound of bleating sheep in the distance.
 
Everyday is a battle.  Today is an opportunity for one to risk everything!