Stolen Valor and Status Symbols

If you have spent any amount of time online in the last year or two, you have most likely heard about “Stolen Valor”.  You may have read an article, seen a YouTube video, or a Facebook post about a person impersonating a member of the armed forces and walking around in public.  They are dressed up in authentic looking military uniforms.  They have been spotted in shopping malls, amusement parks, the street, and the airport.  They look and sound legit to the average person, but the one exposing them is not fooled.

The majority of the time, the person that is calling them out and recording them is a current member or retired member of the branch they are pretending to be a part of.  It starts off with the person asking the imposter some general questions, “How long have you been in?”  “Where are you stationed?” and other questions like that.  Then they start getting more specific, asking about their platoon, their regiment, their ‘MOS’, (I won’t pretend to know all about this stuff because I never had the honor to serve) and this is where the wannabe’s story starts to unravel.  The actual military person then pounces and makes them look like a fool.  It is usually a breach in protocol that any active duty or reservist would know and follow while in uniform.  It could be something like a contradictory patch or medallion that blows their cover.  Or it could be they prove that they do not know what they are talking about outside of some well researched and well rehearsed lines.

Most of these people are looking for recognition of some kind.  They want to get the admiration and respect that our military members rightly deserve.  They want the glory without the sacrifice.  Some of these people are looking to gain special privileges by dressing this way.  Perhaps they can get a discount on a cup of coffee or meal, like a recent fake soldier did in an airport.  Some are looking to score free merchandise, food, or other items.  This is where their lie gets them in trouble.  It is actually a crime according to the ‘Stolen Valor Act of 2013’ to present yourself as a medal recipient or military officer with the intent to obtain free or discounted goods or services, or other monetary benefits. 

Despite the fact that the federal government has passed a law that makes this pitiful practice illegal, and the fact that just about every person in America has a camera phone glued to their hand at all times, these people continue to take this chance.  Maybe they got away with it for a long time prior to the prevalence of cell phones and Twitter accounts.  Or maybe with the surge in popularity of military members thanks to high profile events like the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, and movies like ‘Act of Valor’, ‘Lone Survivor’, and the recent release of ‘American Sniper’ makes them want to be apart of something they never could do on their own.  Whatever the case may be, it is foolish and risky.

Wannabe combat veteran is not the only type of impersonation that goes on in America, and it is certainly not my main point of writing this.  I came across a person the other day at a fast food restaurant that really got me thinking about this whole thing.  While the kid behind the counter (I say kid, he was probably in his early 20s) was getting my order ready, I noticed he was wearing an ‘I Am Second’ bracelet.  If you don’t know what that is, it’s a black rubber bracelet with white letters that say ‘I Am Second’.  It is a product from the website of the same name.  They produce short films of celebrities and average Joes giving their testimony about how Jesus rescued them from their life of sin and that they are now living ‘second’ to Jesus. 

It really is a neat website, and I admire their program.  They have resources for small groups and give you the information on how to start an “I am Second” small group.  Since I am a fan of the program, I asked him if he was a part of a ‘Second’ small group.  He got the most confused look on his face for a couple of seconds before he realized what I was talking about.  He said that he just got the bracelet for Christmas and didn’t really know much about it.  He had just seen a lot of people wearing them and liked it.  I was just about to dig a little deeper and ask him if he knew what it meant to be second, but the restaurant had gone from nobody at 2:30 in the afternoon, to line almost out the door.  I got my food and left.  As I drove away, I was upset with myself for not talking to him about Jesus and what living second to him means, but I was also a little confused about why someone would want to wear something that gave the impression that they were a Christian if they really weren’t.  You certainly don’t gain a lot of respect and monetary benefits by wearing a rubber bracelet, or even a cross. 

Then I thought a little more and realized that “Christian memorabilia” is a very popular fashion accessory.  There are celebrities and people that wear crosses and other religious symbols when they are not practicing Christians.  The biggest one that comes to my mind is Katy Perry.  I have seen her wear a cross on several occasions in interviews and performances.  Despite being the daughter of an evangelical pastor, she has said that she is no longer a Christian, and does not believe in Heaven or Hell.  So why wear the symbol that is almost exclusively Christian if you do not believe in it?  If that cross represents the instrument that God used to help save mankind from eternal punishment in Hell, and was where Jesus was offered up as the once and for all sacrifice so we could go to Heaven, why wear it if it means absolutely nothing to you?  To be fair, I have also heard her say that she prays before every show, but it is a prayer to no god in particular.  So I am only assuming that the cross means absolutely nothing to her, but if she doesn’t believe in Heaven or Hell, I don’t think it represents the same to her as it does to most Christians. 

Katy Perry is just one of many celebrities I have seen wear Christian jewelry as a fashion accessory.  But I have seen countless people on the street wear something that refers to Jesus or God that does not appear to let that which it represents affect them.  Please do not think I am being judgmental in saying this, I am just saying that their life does not appear to be producing ‘fruit’ like the Bible talks about. 

In John chapter 15, Jesus is talking and He talks about how he is the true vine.  He says that he is the vine and we are the branches.  In verses 4 and 5 he says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.  Yes, I am the vine you are the branches.  Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.  For apart from me you can do nothing.”  In verse 8, he goes on to say, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.  This brings great glory to my Father.”

In Matthew 7:20, Jesus says “Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”

Seeing this contradiction is what I am most concerned about.  I am not concerned with the people that choose to wear crosses and ‘Jesus fish’ as a fashion symbol and are open and honest with the fact that they do not believe.  (I am truly concerned for these people, because I do not want any person to suffer eternal punishment due to a refusal to believe.  I am just not talking about them in this post.)  I am concerned about the people that wear the uniform and can talk the game (much like the fake servicemen above), but are not taking up their cross daily (Luke 14:27) and fighting the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12 & 2 Tim. 4:7).

These are like the Pharisees that Jesus rebuked in Matthew 23:27-28, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees.  Hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs-beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.  Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

How horrible would it be to have Jesus call you out like that?  To have Jesus Christ, himself, compare you to a tomb, a whitewashed tomb at that would be devastating.  Especially if I had been trying to come across to everyone around me as a good little Christian boy by the clothes and jewelry I wore and the empty words I spoke.  This makes me think of the church at Laodicea that Jesus is talking to in Revelation chapter 3.  He says, “I know all the things you do, that are neither hot nor cold.  I wish that you were one or the other!  But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!”

I don’t know about you, but I really do not want to be puked out of Jesus’ mouth!  The people that flat out say they do not believe, but only like the bling of the diamond studded cross around their neck, are cold.  They are honest and direct.  There is no trying to guess where they fall on this spectrum.  The people that are just as clean and pure on the inside as they are on the outside are also easy to figure out – they are the hot ones that Jesus refers to in Revelation.  It’s the others that are, probably, the bigger population.  These are the ones that are trying to fool those around them, and even themselves.  Despite their dress and their words, their actions and lifestyle betray them.  John’s first letter says in chapter 1 verses 8-10, ‘If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.’  This slap to God’s face leads to him spitting us out onto the ground. 

So let me ask you, where are you in all of this?  Are you the one that is truly on fire for God and wear your faith on your sleeve?  Do your words, actions, and thoughts honor God?  Are you the hot one that Jesus was talking about? 

Are you the non-believer that just wants to accessorize your wardrobe with an occasional cross?

Or are you the poser that likes to wear religious status symbols and the Christian combat uniform, but does not produce any kind of spiritual fruit in you life?  Are you a whitewashed tomb that looks the part on the outside, but is spiritually dead on the inside?  Are you in danger of being spit out of Jesus’ mouth?

If we could strip away all of the religious status symbols and spiritual rhetoric, would you look any different from everyone else around you?  I urge you to really take a look at your life and evaluate where you are in all of this.  Please do not continue to fool yourself, or attempt to fool others into thinking you are better off than you really are.  You may not like the eternal consequences.  If you are on the outside, and have never really given any of this serious thought; maybe you are an unbeliever but have questions, please do not wait to ask.  Find someone that can give you the information you need.  I am more than happy to help in any way, but if not me, please find someone soon.  We are not guaranteed tomorrow.  A recent acquaintance lost a loved one in an instant.  In an attempt to enjoy a common hobby, this person lost their soul mate.  You really do not know how much time you have.  Take this opportunity to get your questions answered.

Have a great day, week, and New Year.  Thank you for taking the time to read the Thoughts of a Sleepless Man.

Thoughts of a Sleepless man Part 2 - "Why I am a horrible fireman"

I’m a horrible fireman.  I am.  I am a horrible fireman.  Now, I do not mean that in a tactical sense.  I do not mean that I am not good at my job, because I think I am.  No, I mean I am a horrible fireman because I do not eat, sleep, and breathe the fire service. 

I do not hang out in fire service chat rooms and forums.  I do not subscribe to FIREHOUSE Magazine, nor do I read every single article that is written about the fire service.  I do not look up every single fire related video on YouTube. 

I do not think of 9-11 as a firefighter day.  I do not have all 343 names of the firefighters that were killed that fateful day memorized.  I think it is absolutely tragic that those guys died while doing what they loved, and that is helping people; but I do not elevate those guys over the some 2,000 other people that were killed in those towers.  September 11, 2001 is a day that forever changed this great nation of ours, and it changed the fire service; but in no way, shape, or form is it a day that is all about the 343.

I do not keep my class-A uniform at the ready to attend every single firefighter funeral that is within a 100 mile radius.  In fact, I have only worn my class-A uniform, and that was for department pictures.  I have only been to one firefighter’s funeral, and that was my first fire chief when I was brand new.  It’s not that I don’t mourn the death of firefighters, or feel sympathy for them and their families/crews.  I just don’t like funerals.  I don’t like them for anyone.  I would rather never go to another funeral again, not out of fear of death or dying, either.  I just do not like funerals.

I don’t mean to sound cold-hearted, hateful, or even judgmental towards those guys and gals that do all of the stuff I mentioned.  I’m really not any of those things.  I say all that to point out that I am a different kind of fireman.  However, the death of the two firefighters in Boston yesterday (March 26, 2014) really hit me.  I cannot explain why it impacted me the way it did, it just did.  It truly broke my heart to hear it.

Maybe it is because for the first time, I heard the radio traffic of the scene the same day of the incident.  And to hear that scenario play out with my own ears really struck a nerve in me.  Without going into the details of it, out of respect of you non-firefighting people, it really messed me up to hear that transpire.  I thought about those guys.  I thought about incident command.  I thought about the dispatcher that was communicating with them on the radio.  I thought about the driver and other crew members of their engine company.  I thought about their brothers that were on scene, at the other stations, and on the other shifts.  I thought about their families.  One of the guys had a wife and 3 kids under the age of 10.  I thought about all of that stuff, and it really affected me.

On a small level, I thought about my past experiences.  I have been in a house that was burning and I ran out of water.  I couldn't see anything but the faint glow of fire in the next room, but I still knew exactly where I was.  I had plenty of air, knew how to get out if the situation called for it, and the heat was not unbearable.  Nevertheless, I had a brief moment of anxiousness there.  It seemed liked an extremely long time to be in a burning house without water, but I was assured that it was only a few minutes.  After calling on the radio for water, what seemed like a dozen times, I felt the hose fill back up and we proceeded to fight fire.  We got the fire knocked down and then exited to building to rest in the 110 degree heat.  The fire ended up spreading through a crawl space that we did not know about, and we burned the roof off of that house, but nobody got hurt. 

I was also in a situation that I can honestly say that I could have died in my rookie year.   It was a training fire, of all things, but it took a dangerous turn.  We were burning in a house that was scheduled to be torn down, we could do that kind of thing back then, and I was caught in a situation that I actually lost my bearings.  I got separated from my partner in a large room and could not find my way out.  The heat pushed me down onto the ground, and it got to the point where when I tried to crawl, the hot bunker gear was very hot against my skin.  It caused me to pause a few seconds.  I remember briefly opening my eyes as I was flat on my belly and seeing nothing but glow.  It seemed that everything around me was on fire, and I knew that it was not long before my gear was on fire.  I remember thinking two things:  one was I wanted to dig a hole through that tile floor, concrete, and earth to escape the heat; the other was I thought I was actually going to die right there on that floor.  I had a pregnant wife at home, and thought I may not see her again.  In a desperate attempt to feel the door, I stuck out my arm and found the jamb.  I dove out of the door and exited the building extremely fast.  After crews drowned that house with water, I went in and saw that square inch from floor to ceiling was charred.  I ruined my gear that day, but I made it out unscathed.

I don’t tell those stories to sound cool, or macho; only to say that I can relate on a very tiny scale.  Those stories pale in comparison to what those guys went through today.  Me trying to elevate my experience to their level would be like a kid racing his hot wheels and thinking he was Mario Andretti.  My time and experience does not hold a candle to those guys, or any firefighter from places like New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, or even Arlington.  I have only caught a small glimpse of what those guys have done.

I can only begin to think what it must have been like to be trapped in a burning basement, with no water, not knowing where you are exactly, and not knowing how to get out.  I cannot imagine the terror those guys had to be experiencing.  You could hear it in their voice on the radio, but even that doesn’t really say what they were thinking or feeling.

I cannot say why this tragedy got to me the way it did.  I can only pray for those guys and their families, friends, and coworkers.  I can also pray for God to protect me, and everyone I know from ever having to go through that.  But, should I, or someone I know, go through something like this in some way; I pray that God will help me to count it as joy.  I recently heard a message on James chapter 1 verse 2-4.  In the book of James, Jesus’ little brother urged fellow believers “when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, in chapter 5 he writes, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”

That has to be our prayer as Christ followers.  That when tragedy strikes, and we experience hard times, as great as they may be, that we will count it as joy.  That we make it through those trials with endurance, or steadfastness, and that develops good character in us.  And that that character will give us stronger hope.  When we can find joy in the true hardships of life like Paul talks about in Colossians, then we are showing what it means to be a true disciple of Christ.

I leave you with this, Jesus said in John 15:13 that, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  So let us thank God for the love and sacrifice these two brave men made today.  Let us also pray for their family, friends, and coworkers.  Finally, let us pray that God will fill all of us with joy, hope, and peace that only comes from Him.

Will you pray with me?

Father God, I lift up these two men to you.  I pray that they are resting in the palms of your hands right now.  I also lift up their loved ones, their friends, and their coworkers.  Please surround them with your Holy Presence, and let them feel your love.  Give them a peace that surpasses all understanding.  Help them, Father, to be able to count this tragedy as joy for your sake.  Help them through this grieving process, and let them never forget how brave these guys were.  I pray, Lord, that you will be glorified through this.  I pray that people will give their lives to you, and put their trust in you.  Help every single one of us to be like Jesus when we are faced with tragedy.  Even though we may be hurting, and scared, and sad; let us count it all as joy.  Thank you for your love Father, thank you for your joy, thank you for your peace.  Let us always honor and glorify you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray.  Amen.

Have a blessed day and week.  Please keep everyone affected by this event in your thoughts and prayers.  Take care.