Something Bigger than Me

I woke up at 5 am to the sound of Reveille blasting over the loud speaker, just as I had every morning for three straight months. The difference was that, on that day, I wasn’t going to roll out of the rack for training or inspection. On that morning, I would march across the parade deck with hundreds of other guys and finally earn the title “Marine”. The three months leading up to that were just a proving ground. That morning was the payoff.

No one earns the privilege of being part of the world’s greatest fighting force flippantly. You pay for it. With blood, sweat, pain (otherwise known as weakness leaving the body), and honestly, a part of your identity. When I left the parade deck of MCRD San Diego, I was no longer the same person I was when I arrived. I couldn’t be.

Along with that reality comes a gamut of emotion that is easy to recall, yet difficult to express. Those who have been there know what I mean. On the day you become a Marine, and every day following it, there is a sense of pride. There is a sense of entitlement. There is a sense of security in my abilities and an astute sense that I can do anything.

But more than that, I believe, is a sense of truly, and finally, belonging to something much bigger than me.

Today, fifteen years later, I’m again part of something bigger than me. But this time, it’s not something I earned. I didn’t pay for it with my blood, sweat or pain. This time, I’m experiencing what Jesus paid for with his own blood, sweat and pain. And because of that, I’m no longer the person I was before I met him. I can’t be. Now, my identity is wrapped up in who he is. And there is no greater security than that!

In the Corps, I had a sense of entitlement and pride for what I had earned. As a Christian, I have a sense of humility and thankfulness for what Christ did for me.