DON'T EVER, EVER RING THE BELL !!

Admiral William McRaven Knows a thing or two

about courage and changing the world.  The video of his speech presented at UT (Austin) was shared on Fox ... 

 

 "As a commander of the forces that killed Usama bin Laden and a Navy SEAL for 36 years, Admiral William McRaven knows a thing or two about courage and changing the world. In one of the most inspiring commencement speeches, Adm. McRaven advised graduates at his alma mater – the University of Texas at Austin – on how to change the world."  -Fox News, The Five

 

Here are his 10 life lessons for grads on how to go about doing that:

 

1. If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.

2. If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.
3. If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
4. If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
5. If you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.
6. If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head first.
7. If you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.
8. If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.
9. If you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
10. If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

THE TOUGHEST TRAINING IN THE WORLD:   That’s what sailors volunteer for when they have the goal of becoming a Navy SEAL.  Its 25 weeks of training to test their endurance and will.  Cold, miserable, and tired are three words that sum up the experience.  Master Chief Information Systems Technician Dennis Wilbanks, head SEAL recruiter said, “You have to want the program.  And mentally, never give yourself the option to quit.”  70% drop out within the first few weeks. 

It is said that they want them to be able to work flawlessly under intense mental and physical exhaustion.  Why? As one instructor put it, “Mistakes made when working with explosives only happen once.” 

From one web site:

He describes one test during Basic Underwater Demolition School/SEAL (BUD/S).  This test is difficult to put in words.  Words can’t begin to show how grueling it really is.  They break them down and see how physically and mentally tough they are. It sometimes reaches the point of death and resurrection.

“One of the tests is they make you dive to the bottom of a pool and tie five knots,” the Shooter says. “One guy got to the fifth knot and blacked out underwater.  We pulled him up he was, like, dead.  They made the class face the fence while they tried to resuscitate him.  The first words as he spit out water were ‘Did I pass?  Did I tie the fifth knot?’  The instructor told him, ‘We didn’t want to find out if you could tie the knots, we wanted to know how hard you’d push yourself.  You killed yourself. You passed.”

This is when the majority of the trainees quit, and even the act of quitting is painful.  They must ring a brass bell to signal they don’t have what it takes to be a SEAL.  The whole camp can hear them ring that bell.   To become a Navy SEAL…It takes an unrelenting drive and a willingness to never quit.

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As Christians, we've been tested and often, mentally, we've wanted to ring that bell.  We've given up on our dreams....our calling.  We've given up far too easily. 

Basic Underwater Demolition School ------“The belief that BUD/S is about physical strength is a common misconception.  Actually, it’s 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical,” said a BUD/S instructor at the San Diego facility.  “(Students) just decide that they are too cold, too sandy, too sore or too wet to go on.  It’s their minds that give up on them, not their bodies.”

The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:8,9:
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Paul was saying that even in our greatest perplexities, we know God is able to support us, and to deliver us, and in Him we always place our trust and hope. 

Failure is only a failure if you don’t learn something from it.  We all want to do more in life.  We all  want to live a more exciting life.  We all want to do something that matters for the Kingdom of God.  But, in order to do that we must not RING THE BELL.  We absolutely must not give up.  We must not listen to that small voice that suggests that we will never make it.   Take on the attitude of a Navy SEAL - they know that if they quit they won't be called a SEAL, they will be called a sailor. 

Believers can become wimps or warriors.  We can be a cowardly or unadventurous individual.  OR, we can put on the whole armor of God and get out there on the battlefield for the Lord.  Our trials can make us better, not bitter.  We can stand firm against the onslaughts of the enemy - holding the banner of salvation high.

Do not ever “ring the bell” and allow yourself to simply be mediocre.

Admiral William McRaven concluded his speech: 
Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often, but if take you take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up — if you do these things, the next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today.

Ring the bell and you no longer have to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the hardships of training.  But, If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

All you have to do is ring the bell to get out.

 

"So then, brethren, ..." "As a result of all this, brethren," Paul is saying, "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." Two activities, says Paul, are possible despite the hard times they were going through. They could "stand fast," and they could "hold fast." Stand fast; "Do not give in under pressure," and Hold fast; "do not give up the truth."

More than anything else, our generation of Christians needs to hear these words again. "Stand fast." Paul is saying that we already have what it takes to do so. What we need to do is to draw upon the resources he has made available; to choose to live accordingly. Take God at his word! There is no reason to quit, or to give in.  There is no reason to ring the bell.

Christians:  If you want to change the world,

don't ever, ever ring the bell.

 

Remember:

 

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

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