Private Desmond Doss walked into the bloodiest battle of World War II’s Pacific theater with nothing to protect himself save for his Bible and his faith in God. A devout Seventh Day Adventist and conscientious objector, Doss had enlisted as a medic and refused to carry a rifle.

The fighting took place on the hellish Maeda Escarpment in April 1945. The battlefield, located on top of a sheer 400-foot cliff, was fortified with a deadly network of Japanese machine gun nests and booby traps. The escarpment, nicknamed Hacksaw Ridge for the treacherously steep cliff, was key to winning the battle of Okinawa. The mission was thought to be near-impossible, and when Doss’s battalion was ordered to retreat, the medic refused to leave his fallen comrades behind.

Facing heavy machine gun and artillery fire, Doss repeatedly ran alone into the kill zone, carrying wounded soldiers to the edge of the cliff and singlehandedly lowering them down to safety. Each time he saved a man’s life, Doss prayed out loud, “Lord, please help me get one more.” By the end of the night he had rescued an estimated 75 men. (The always modest Doss reckoned he saved about 50, but his fellow soldiers gauged it closer to 100. They decided to split the difference.) – excerpt from People Magazine 2.24.17.

When I visited my Dad in April, we watched Hacksaw Ridge and I found it to be one of the most inspiring movies I’ve ever seen.  Fast forward one week later, I went to Nashville for jBloom Leader Conference, and our owner, Bret Bonacorsi, asked if anyone had heard of Desmond Doss.  Only a couple of hands went up – and I immediately thought, “Wow, another synchronicity”.  He went on to tell a little about the story, and then gifted us this coin and compared it to the lives we have the ability to touch every day.  He told us it can sometimes be overwhelming when we think of the larger scope of life, but if we look at our ability to help “just one more” woman improve her life, it makes it more achievable.  This gesture is one of the things I find most endearing about my company.  The fact that our owner is a Christian who is not afraid to encourage us in meaningful ways gives me the courage to step out in my faith as well.

All to often, we view “just one more” as:

• Just one more charge on my credit card and then I’ll curb my spending of money I don’t have.
• Just one more time my husband cheats, I’m filing for divorce.
• Just one more time my boss mistreats me, I’m putting in my notice.
• Just one more time she calls me to complain, I’m going to start screening my calls.
• Just one more night of binging before bed, then I swear I’m going on my diet.
• Just one more glass of wine – even though I’m already tipsy.
• Just one more day until I’m closer to retirement.

Just One More….

Every time we use “just one more” in these ways, we are self-sabotaging ourselves more and more, digging a deeper grave, sinking further into the abyss of all the things that torture us little by little.  It’s the cheap, empty, dirty way to get through our lives that bears no fruit.  We’d rather continue the same habitual habits we’ve always practiced than attack our problems head-on.

The only way to make a change in your life is to make a change in your life.  If you’re not willing to live “just one more” day to the fullest for yourself, then find someone you’re willing to do it for.  There is always something worth living for.  There is always someone who has it worse than you.

So many are living their lives to die.  They’re checking their days off the calendar as one day closer to pay day.  One day closer to retirement.  One day closer to death.

Others are on the opposite side of the spectrum.

• Just one more day of chemo and I have a chance to live a full life.
• Just one more fertility treatment and maybe I can bear a child.
• Just one more surgery and I may be able to walk again.
• Just one more box to pack and I’ll be walking out of the home I lost to foreclosure.
• Just one more day of visitation until I bury my child.

Living only for ourselves makes it easy to succumb to self-sabotaging behaviors, selfishness and depression because life is only about US and our world is small.

Living for others makes it easy to see that there’s always, always someone who has it worse.  The more you look, the larger the world gets.  It makes it easy to live selflessly and joyfully because we’re serving a higher purpose to make OTHERS’ burdens lighter.

God can use you exactly where you are.  You don’t have to have money.  You don’t have to have your health.  You don’t have to be happy.  You don’t have to have a spouse, children or a job.  When you look outside of yourself and actually serve in some small way, your burdens feel lighter.  HE fills the empty spaces of your heart and soul and makes all things new.

What does “just one more” mean to you?

“Be brave, be kind, be bold, be fierce, be you”

-Jules-