Many
times I request a particular book to read and review.
Other times someone reaches out to me. When that happens I generally say 'no',
but in this case I made an exception, partially because the author, Jason B.
Ladd has a military background and I was interested in reading how that played
into the development of his Christian worldview. And don't kid yourself,
everyone has a worldview, they just may not realize that that's what guides them
as they make choices: good or bad.
So I read
One of the Few: A Marine Fighter Pilot's
Reconnaissance of the Christian Worldview (Boone Shepherd, 2017), and I'm
glad that I said yes to this request.
We
served in different branches of the Military, but we're still comrades in arms.
And many of the experiences that Jason writes about brought back memories, some
good, some not so pleasant, and some downright bad.
But like
Jason, serving my country gave me the opportunity to make choices, some good and
others not so much so, but all of them got me to the place where I was able to
come to terms with the fact that I needed a savior, and that Savior is Jesus. And that's where worldview comes in. Your
worldview, in the simplest terms is the personal
belief system that guides every decision you make: how you spend your money,
how you treat people, what kind of movies you watch, your attitudes towards sex
(pre-marital, extra-marital, etc), sanctity of life, and above what you believe
about God.
When I
served in the Air Force, there were times when it was hard to make wise choices.
As Ladd describes there are times when
you're away from home, away from your
duty station, and who is going to know
if you drink too much and decide to have a little fun? And sometimes because of
the bravado, macho image of certain career fields, it was hard to find people
that would admit to having a similar worldview. Oh they are definitely there,
just sometimes hard to find. Of course
if you live according to the worldview you think you have, those people with similar
interests are much easier to find.
One of the Few is broken into 3 parts. Part I
is a picture of the life of a military 'brat' and as Ladd puts it,
"chronicles my journey as a spiritual seeker." Where do morals come from? How do you relate
to the world around you? Who or What is God?
What happens after I die? And along the way to finding the answers to those
questions is a lot of time spent seeking answers, looking at different religions,
and sometimes realizing that you've been getting it wrong for a long time.
In Part II Jason writes about worldview, how important
it is to have one that lets you filter out the lies of the world. His worldview
led him to make some wise choices about sexual sin, the sanctity of marriage
and the dangers of pornography.
But he
goes one step further. Part III provides the reader with a way to combat
spiritual warfare. Military members get pretty good at understanding the
concepts of war and peace. Jason takes
the lessons that he learned as a Marine Fighter Pilot and transfers them into
the spiritual realm. As he puts it, "every believer had doubts". We learn
how to engage the enemy, and our enemy is evil.
I'm usually not
a big fan of autobiographies because they tend to be full of braggadocio, Jason
has done a great job of humbly recounting his faith journey, giving credit to
those who have helped him along the path as he set out to find himself, and ending
up finding God.
I think
that people with Military experience are more likely to identify with this book
than 'civilians', but there are life lessons that all of us can certainly
learn. Are you looking for answers to
life's big questions? One of the Few just may be a good place
for you to start your research.
In the
interest of disclosure, I received a copy of the book in exchange for a review.
4.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment