The Terminator
28 July 2009
My team of four arrived on the scene of a home invasion gone bad. The officer in charge briefed us on what he knew: an unknown number of heavily armed bad guys were inside the house. The condition of the home owner and his family was unknown. The larger tactical team was enroute, but due to the sounds of active gunfire inside house, my team needed to make a dynamic entry into the house NOW in order to rescue any surviving hostages. To make things worse, it was night time.
This was probably the WORST report that you could possibly receive in a briefing. You want to know as much information as you can get before you go charging into a building full of bad guys. How many bad guys are inside, where are they located, what are they armed with, where are the hostages … all answered with, “Unknown.”
Fear thrives in the unknown.
Our survival now depended on our training. Luckily we didn’t skimp in that area. We had training for everything. Physical fitness training kept us in shape. Weapons training developed an intimate relationship with our weapons. Tactical training transformed our team into one fluid unit instead of four separate men. Defensive tactics training taught us hand-to-hand combat.
“Man, I wish I would have paid a little more attention in that hostage rescue training class,” I thought to myself.
GEAR UP ! It’s time to do what we do …
As we stacked up on the front door, the entire house was black as night. We heard gunfire inside. Time to move. The front door swung open and in we went … into the unknown. We moved smooth and quick through the darkness, as well trained team. Three rooms were cleared quickly. We made it look easy, until …
I heard a noise behind me. It sounded like gunfire … loud gunfire … close gunfire … OUCH! I felt the painful burn of rounds striking my back and arms. Two of us were sprayed with rounds from a Glock handgun. I turned around just time to see the bad guy firing off rounds as fast as he could pull the trigger. “Where did that guy come from?” As flashlights were concentrated on him, I could see the bad guy smiling. He had out-smarted us. An attack from the rear. What a JERK!
The remaining two team members reacted quickly and ended the fire-fight with a volley of precision placed bullets until the bad guy was covered in blue ….
Blue? Did you say BLUE?
Blue paint bullets.
Remember? We don’t skimp in training. The fear, the courage, the pressure, the building, the bad guys, the pain … all real. The situation and the bullets … training. We called it The Terminator. A building specifically designed to train officers in tactical manuvers. A bloodless battle to hone our skills in preparation for the real thing.
As a faithful believer, has your faith or beliefs ever been challenged? Not the simple, “Do you believe in God, ” question. I mean a complicated, scripturally based, well-planned and rehearsed challenge that comes from an educated challenger. The kind of challenge that blows holes in your Galilean boat and sets your Bethlehem manger ablaze. Terminator questions!
The next question is even scarier. Did you survive?
Have you ever thought the battle for your soul requires training? Consider that every challenge against your faith is a battle. Is your sword of the Spirit (God’s Word) sharp? Have you studied it and trained with it? Can you wield it proficiently?
A close friend of mine just returned from such a battle … wounded but alive. For three straight days his Bible knowledge, faith and beliefs were severely attacked by a well educated challenger. You could hear the scriptural steel clash as both used God’s Word to disprove the other. To hear my friend describe the experience, I envision two titans in epic battle. My friend was not as well trained as he could have been. He survived, but a lesson was learned.
What did I learn from my wounds in The Terminator? Always look underneath the sofa, no matter how small it looks. What did my friend learn from his wounds? Know what your beliefs are and where they come from. Eliminate the unknown. Train with your Bible so when your faith is challenged, you’ll be properly prepared to defend it.
Your battle is coming …
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