"Flying Iron Hand" with My Son Elijah...

During the Vietnam War, US combat pilots became familiar with a coined term called "flying Iron Hand".  This originally stemmed from a series of US operations designed to suppress enemy SAM (surface-to-air missile) sites, but "stuck" beyond to mean the process of identifying, suppressing and destroying enemy anti-aircraft sites in advance of larger attacking forces.

Usually, as I understand it, Iron Hand missions are flown in pairs or small groups, with one aircraft basically serving as bait for enemy SAM sites while the other aircraft sneaks in and takes them out before they can fire their missiles at the aircraft doing the baiting.  It's a risky and dangerous proposition, but in a world of smart and guided missile threats, pilots have become extremely efficient at the process, often sending an experienced pilot to flush out the SAMs while a less experienced pilot does the actual hunting and smashing.

As my son Elijah just turned 13 this year, I couldn't help beginning to see in my own mind an entire jungle of things that could "shoot him down" in various situations (social and otherwise) in our increasingly complex world.  Most of these things pale in comparison to the "big targets" of teaching core values like Faith and Compassion, but are still things that could knock his plane out of the sky if he didn't see them coming, whether in simple day to day operations or in social settings as he grows older, dates girls and interacts with others.  As a result, I took Elijah to breakfast and told him that I'd like to be his Wingman one weekend a month or so to embark on an ongoing mission to knock out some of these potential "threats" before they happen.  I explained to him the concept of "Flying Iron Hand", and told him that I would be the more experienced pilot who flies out ahead to highlight the targets so that he can fly in behind and take them out with greater safety.  I told him that I had developed a basic list of things to make sure we covered, but that the list could grow and change as he grew and changed to make sure that we stay relevant and adaptable to what he feels are the greatest needs.  More than anything, I guess, it's just a chance for the two of us to both spend time with each other, but also intentionally make sure that certain manly qualities are passed from father to son.  Here are some starters for what we're going to cover in the next few months:

• Wear a suit
• Iron a dress shirt
• Tie a tie
• "Spit polish" shoes
• Cook 2-3 decent meals or dishes
• De-escalate a threat
• Shoot a handgun
• Basic self-defense
• Pursue and treat a woman
• Pick out flowers
• Basic etiquette in a non-etiquette world
• Behave at a formal restaurant
• Basic First-Aid
• Formally address a write a letter
• Speak in public
• Drive a car
• Drive a car in an emergency
• Jump a car battery
• Change a tire

Do you have a list of possible targets?  Have you flown similar kinds of Iron Hand missions either with your dad or your son?  I'd love to hear about them!  Drop me a line either in the comments here on this post or via e-mail at jmagruder@gccwired.com.

 

"I Love It When A Plan Comes Together!"

I grew up watching The A-Team like many people from my generation.  Now, as an adult, i watch re-runs and think, "why did i like this show?", but at the time, like many eager kids, i would huddle around the television each week just to watch Murdock go crazy, BA be tricked into being drugged so that he could fly on an airplane, and watch the rogue band of former Covert-Operators join together to piece together junk-yard scraps into some amazing war-machine to help out a poor or oppressed family and ultimately triumph over tyranny.  But best of all, i loved Hannibal, the team's leader (played by George Peppard).  I loved the fact that virtually every episode would end with him taking a long draft of his stogie, smiling grittily and saying as he puffed smoke, "I love it when a plan comes together!"


Recently, on one of our GCC India Teams, one of our team members passed by a little group of village children gathering impromptu before school to hold hands, close their eyes and speak softly for a few minutes before heading into their day.  When the team member asked one of the village elders what the kids were doing, the village elder explained, "They do that every day.  They gather to pray on their own before heading to school.  They pray for their families, for their teachers, for their classmates and for the specific things going on in their lives.  They pray in the name of this Jesus that you have been speaking about."  I asked Raj to send me a picture of this little gathering and you will see it here.  You'll notice little Rajasuri (that i mentioned in a previous post) standing second from the left on the far side of the circle too.

From my perspective, this is a snapshot of what it means when all these things that we talk about in terms of "church based community development" come together.  Ask any of these children why their lives are different now than they were four to five years ago and they will point to the People of God in their midst.  They will point to Jeyan and Jency (the local Indian church pastors), to adults in the community who have come to Jesus and are working more often, have been liberated from slavery, and are seeking to be better parents and spouses.  They will point to a clean water well, a community vegetable garden, to whole and strong homes now constructed over their heads, to a community center in their midst and to regular visits from Indian mentors through Life Mission International and new friends from the far away land of Granger in the United States.  This little band here marks what it looks like when a plan comes together.  And, like Hannibal from The A-Team, "I LOVE it when a plan comes together!"

Of HALO 4, History and Newfound Battlecries!

My family plays video games.  We use our XBox Kinect for fun exercise during the long Winter months here in Northern Indiana, and after the kids have gone to bed, my wife and i stay up some nights and save the planet from various impending threats (see?  you can sleep easy knowing that Jack and Sami Magruder are hotly engaging alien invaders and robot apocalypses while you rest!).  If you've been aware of video games in the last decade or so, you probably haven't been able to miss the HALO franchise.  It's an exceptionally well-done series of video games aimed around an intergalactic war between humans and an advanced alien army called "the Covenant" who are bound to wipe out humanity.  That may not sound too unique, but the franchise always delivers with stellar gameplay and a fun story-line.

In a couple of days, the newest game in the series (Halo 4) will hit shelves.  However, for the past five weeks before, we have joined many people in tuning in to a live-action web series that builds to the game's release called Forward Unto Dawn.   Featuring both some Hollywood favorites as well as new faces, FUD seeks to provide some back story for the Halo universe and gives you first glimpses into First Contact between Humans and hostile Covenant Forces.  It's a very well-done series (though starting in about Episode 4, it's intensity and violence pick up substantially), and we have been pleasantly surprised by the acting, writing and effort.

Through watching the series, I stumbled across something that has given me considerable pleasure.  While the short films center on a small squad of military cadets at a futuristic training academy called the Corbulo Academy of Military Science (CAMS), they are told often of whom the academy is so named:  General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo.  Corbulo was a Roman general and governor in about 60 AD who, upon being commanded by Nero to take his own life, did so by falling on his sword and shouting the word, "Axios!".  In FUD, this is used as a model for absolute obedience to orders, honor and sacrifice.  The cadets are told that "Axios!" means "I am worthy!" (of honor as a function of my unquestioning obedience and commitment to cause), and they shout it somewhat akin to "Aye, aye!" or "Yes, sir!" when given orders.

I did a little digging on the phrase "Axios!", however, because i thought it was a cool idea and i wanted to know if the origin was really historical or merely fictional, and what i found in the process was that the historical Church actually has considerable track record with this phrase.  In the Greek, "Axios" primarily means "worthy", but in the Eastern Orthodox and a few other Christian traditions, it is shouted, responded or chanted to mean that "[He is] Worthy!", specifically in reference to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  In fact, during ordination services for priests, deacons and bishops, "Axios!" is often shouted or reiterated to indicate that while we may be servants and our lives may be sacrificed, they are done so in service to One who is truly worth of such.

In Revelation 5, we also see a picture around the throne of God as all of creation shouts this to Jesus, who is called the Lamb of God:

"Worthy (literally "Axios") is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Rev 5:12)

It's interesting to me that even in English, our word "Worship" comes from this concept.  "Worship" is literally "Worth-ship", and i learned at Moody to memorize the definition of such as "to ascribe to something that which it alone is supremely worthy to receive".  Indeed, He is Worthy of all that i have to offer:  my life, my time, my effort, my sacrifice, my finances, my talents, my family and my relationships.  I'll smile with a new sense of historical fullness and spiritual significance when i watch a few scared human cadets scurry to grab their Battle Rifles to fend off Covenant forces by screaming "Axios!" in the process.  We are not "worthy".  He is.  Axios!