I just finished an inspiring book.  The book is Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.  Luttrell tells the story of his four- man SEAL team and their mission to capture or kill a Taliban leader near the Pakistani border in Afghanistan.  Their mission goes terribly wrong and soon Luttrell is the only SEAL alive, and he is wounded and fighting for his life in the dangerous terrain of killers and goats.

The book is filled with examples of courage, commitment, sacrifice and the inexpressible brotherhood of warriors.  Luttrell pulls no punches as he deals with the rigors of SEAL training and the incredibly high wash-out rate.  The tough training highlights the inner strength of those who press forward and graduate.  Later he tells us about the courage of his wounded teammates fighting against impossible odds, their love for one another and their commitment to their country.  His teammates weren’t the only courageous people in the mountains.  We learn from Luttrell about the honor and bravery of a mountain village that take him in and shelter him from the Taliban, and we experience the hate of those who killed his friends and who would kill us all if given the chance.

There were times as I read that I found myself angry, then shamed by the honor and love of those selfless heroes, American and Pashtun.  I also found myself inspired and encouraged by honorable and courageous humanity.  I was being challenged as I read and I like that. Then it happened.

You see, I can be a cheapskate.  In fact I bought this book at a used store for half price.  I fanned through it before I bought it to be sure it was whole and not so marked up that it would distract my reading.  It was good and I got a bargain.  But as I read almost to the end of the book, I found a partial sentence underlined in pen. The underlined passage had to do with a conjecture that good things always have a bad side.  As I read I slipped from the world of heroes and fell into the pit of misery that must have been the home of the previous owner.  I wondered who could read such a story, go past all the heroism and sacrifice and zero in on one partial sentence of fatalistic and negative philosophy.  What was this poor person like?  How did they survive in the world?  Did every sunrise remind them of dusk?  Were they like some vulture who flew over the most beautiful rolling green landscape looking for some rotting death under a bush?

In the SEALS and Pashtun, I found courage and faith; in the Taliban I saw blinding hatred; in the previous reader, I discovered entrenched and toxic despair.  How tragic.  Regardless of our circumstances, all things still work together for good to those who love Him.  We are not as those who are without hope!

Warning: Lone Survivor is an adult book with graphic violence and language.  Remember, I told you so!