THANK YOU for taking care of us …

Yesterday at the gym, I saw a young man working out incredibly hard. He had muscles upon muscles but not in that (I think sort of strange) way that ‘body builders’ do … he was just INCREDIBLY strong.

Normally, I would assume that he is just really into fitness; or maybe he is (sadly) caught up in the worldliness of trying to attract women merely for sexual conquests. But this guy was different. Why? Because he was wearing a USMC t-shirt. (That’s United States Marine Corps in case you are unaware.)

And although I could be wrong, I made the assumption that he was working out so amazingly hard because he was keeping himself in shape in order to go and defend me. My family. Our city and state and COUNTRY. Tyrannized people around the world. Whomever he was ordered to defend—even to the point of laying down his own life.

I was incredibly grateful.

(You know, I even watched him do these WRIST exercises with some dumbbell that I am sure I couldn’t even PICK UP. Back and forth. Back and forth. I thought to myself, ‘If he had to drag his fellow soldier—his brother—to safety, he wants to be strong enough to do that no matter what. A few more reps, maybe he can hoist that line a little faster and save even more lives.” I was humbled humbled humbled.)

‘Thank you for taking care of me,’ I thought. ‘My thanks to you—just a kid in so many ways—probably 15 years younger than me. Thanks thanks thanks.’

I felt the same way when I watched the pilot of my first flight today do his safety check / walk around outside of the plane in Billings. Did you know they look at everything? The wings, landing gear, body of the plane, tail … everything. Once I had a flight cancel because apparently a bird had gotten caught in one of the engines and it wouldn’t be safe to fly—so they brought us back off of the plane and kept us safe.

Watching the pilot, I thought, ‘Thank you for being diligent and taking care of us all.’

Felt the same way when I saw pictures of soldiers carrying children over water onto military ships for evacuation from Beirut. Their boots were soaked; their pants were soaked. They obviously didn’t care. The kids were dry.

I thought, ‘Thank you.’

No matter what the failures of a few; the weaknesses; the complex issues that I’m sure I’ll never be smart enough to even come close to understanding … I am grateful for the many people who take care of me (and countless others!) so ably.