I remember my first assignment as a drill sergeant in 1989, where I was assigned a class of new recruits at Ft Jackson, SC. As was tradition, my trainees would soon receive nicknames based on their behavior or character traits. Private "Donut", a short, pale and slightly chunky young man, received his name by returning for seconds in the breakfast chow line. Although a polite young man, Private Donut allowed self-doubt to interfere with his ability to complete physically strenuous tasks. While running, Private Donut was the first to fall out of formation. While doing pushups, Private Donut was always the first to quit. Although it was readily obvious this kid wasn’t the most gifted athlete in the class, it was just as obvious he was capable of accomplishing more than he was. The first few days of basic training, I personally made sure that Private Donut was not allowed to quit when things got hard. I pushed him extremely hard from the start. Whenever he would try to quit, I would be on scene to make sure he didn’t. When he would attempt to walk during a platoon run, I was right there to remind him how miserable life would become if he refused to get back into formation. His fear of me far outweighed his natural desire to quit. By the end of the first week I am quite sure Private Donut viewed me as his worst enemy.
Each training cycle I
would challenge all my trainees to a pushup contest. I was young and in very
good shape back then and was doing over 95 "correct" pushups in the Army physical fitness
test. The first week of basic training I
laid out a challenge for all my trainees.
If any of them could outperform me in pushups by the 6th week of basic
training, I would personally treat them to lunch at the Burger King on post. Now Army food in those days was barely
palatable—so by comparison, Burger King was fine dining. When the sixth week arrived, with it came the
challenge. One by one trainees would
attempt to defeat their instructor hoping to be treated like royalty at
Burger King. Army Reservist PFC Moran, a
college soccer player, was the first to accept the challenge. PFC Moran was able to
achieve 67 correct military pushups. The
next volunteer was a short, muscular kid from Georgia named Private
Grambling. Grambling heaved his way to 57
pushups. After Grambling, I asked for
the next volunteer and up popped Private Donut.
When this chubby kid raised his hand the other trainees began to laugh. I asked Donut, amidst the laughter, if he was sure he wanted to
accept my challenge? As he nodded his
head in affirmation, Private Donut dropped down into pushup position. When I told him to begin, he started doing
pushups. By the time he had performed
his 10th pushup, the laughter stopped.
By the time he reached his 20th, members of the platoon started rooting
him on. By the time Donut reached his 30th,
I also started cheering. To the disbelief of everyone, Private Donut wound up
completing 62 pushups that day. Unbeknownst
to me and the rest of the platoon, each night after lights out, Private Donut had been sneaking into
the latrine to work on his pushups hoping to show up his drill sergeant.
That day marked a turning point in the life of Private Donut and set an example for the rest of my platoon. For the last few weeks of training If I noticed trainees not living up to their full potential, I would tell them, “If you were half as motivated as Private donut you wouldn’t be struggling so much”. Following the platoon’s graduation ceremony I was approached by Private Donut who wanted to introduce me to his parents. He grinned from ear to ear as I informed his parents that their son was one of the most motivated young men I had ever met and how over the course of 8 weeks he had developed into an outstanding soldier that I would be honored to serve with. Private Donut became a very good soldier and went on to serve honorably in desert storm.
How many of us live our lives like that? Allowing our own insecurities to limit us in what astounding accomplishments we are capable of achieving through our relationship with Christ. We believe the lie that we are not valuable or worthy of anything great. The reality however, is that we are princes and princesses in God’s kingdom. We are joint heirs with Christ! Are you currently living a life of royalty? Are you aware of how much God really loves you? Are you allowing insecurities or fear to prevent you from dreaming big? A good friend of mine once posed the question, “What would you do if you had all the courage in the world? If finances were not a hindrance, and you knew you were destined to succeed –what would you do? How would you live your life differently?” Of all people, Christ followers should dream big. As Christians we should view ourselves through the eyes of God and refuse to see anything different. How many times in the Bible did God use “small people” to accomplish big things? With God's help, a young teenager named David defeated a giant warrior, a stammering fugitive named Moses was used to deliver the Jewish people from the captivity of Egypt, and a young judge named Gideon defeated an army of more than a hundred thousand with only 300 men. You must understand that the God we serve is a limit breaker. Let your mind be open to receiving new ideas and challenges while simultaneously viewing yourself as a child of the almighty creator. Give yourself permission to dream big. And in so doing, allow your influence to burst forth and impact those around you. If Private Donut can do it, so can you!
Proverbs 29:18 “Where
there is no vision, the people perish.”
Romans 8:17 “Now if we
are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory”
