Fearless

That’s from a chapter called “Something Special” where we get a glimpse into the special essence of Adam Brown.

Whether it was relentlessly lining up for grueling football drills against guys twice his size or standing up to bullies picking on a classmate with Down syndrome, Adam was a good, ALL IN, tough, big-hearted guy.

As I read that story about standing up to bullies, I thought of Admiral William McRaven’s ten lessons from his SEAL training.

The seventh lesson he shares in Make Your Bed? “Stand Up to Bullies.”

He tells us: “Bullies are all the same; whether they are in the school yard, in the workplace, or ruling a country through terror. They thrive on fear and intimidation. Bullies gain their strength through the timid and faint of heart. They are like sharks that sense fear in the water. They will circle to see if their prey is struggling. They will probe to see if their victim is weak. If you don’t find the courage to stand your ground, they will strike. In life, to achieve your goals, to complete the night swim, you will have to be men and women of great courage. That courage is within all of us. Dig deep, and you will find it in abundance.”

Earlier in the book, Blehm tells us about how Adam’s parents (Janice and Larry) “modeled good behavior for their children. If they were out shopping and a woman dropped her coin purse, Janice would pick it up and hand it back. In case her kids missed the point, she would say to them, ‘If someone drops something, you help them pick it up.’ Other golden words of wisdom were taught at opportune moments: ‘If somebody falls over, you offer them your hand.’ ‘Would you like it if somebody called you that?’ Upon noticing a kid being bullied on the playground, Larry would say, ‘If you don’t help, you’re no better than the bully.’

‘From those little lessons we tried to pound into them,’ says Janice, ‘some of them stuck.’”

Here’s to modeling good behavior and standing up to the bullies—whether they’re showing up in our mirrors or in our work environments or in our the highest political offices.

TODAY.

That’s from a chapter called “In God’s Hands.” It comes right after a chapter called “Slipping” and another one called “The Dark Time.”

“The Dark Time” for Adam came when he was arrested for over a dozen felonies. And addicted to crack cocaine. And completely lost. That’s when he hit rock bottom.

He was lucky enough to be supported by his tough-love parents and a pastor (and a rehab program) who re-introduced him to God and to his higher self.

A couple pages before that passage, Eric tells us: “That first week at Teen Challenge, Adam heard the parable of the prodigal son. This story from the book of Luke would become his favorite, one he returned to repeatedly for inspiration while attending the rehab program.

In the parable, Jesus told him how a man’s son brazenly asked for his inheritance while his father was still alive, a rebellious and selfish thing to do. The father complied, and the young man left home and squandered all his money in ‘wild living.’ A severe famine came, and the young man, now broke, ended up feeding pigs in order to support himself. He’d hit rock bottom. Destitute and starving, the young man finally decided to return home, hoping for forgiveness from his father but expecting anger. To his surprise, his father welcomed him home with open arms, saying that his son had been ‘dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found’ (see Luke 15:11-32, NIV).”

Jesus’s Parable of the Prodigal Son is worth reading (or re-reading as the case may be). Check it out. Of course, part of what makes Adam’s story so astonishingly inspiring is to see the gap between how far he fell and how high he rose.

Why’s it so inspiring? Because, of course, if HE can do it, so can we. The fact is: We’ve all fallen. Let’s rise. Higher than ever. In service to something bigger than ourselves. TODAY.

P.S. After typing that I thought of Richard Rohr, the Franciscan monk who wrote a book on EXACTLY this theme. It’s called Falling Upward and is basically his (Catholic-inspired) take on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. If you haven’t checked out the Notes yet, please do.

He tells us: “The soul has many secrets. They are only revealed to those who want them, and are never completely forced upon us. One of the best-kept secrets, and yet one hidden in plain sight, is that the way up is the way down. Or, if you prefer, the way down is the way up. This pattern is obvious in all of nature, from the very change of the seasons and substances on this earth, to the six hundred million tons of hydrogen the sun burns every day to light and warm our earth, and even to the metabolic laws of dieting or fasting. … The loss and renewal pattern is so constant and ubiquitous that it should hardly be called a secret at all.”

And: “Normally a job, fortune, or reputation has to be lost, a death has to be suffered, a house has to be flooded, or a disease has to be endured. The pattern in fact is so clear that one has to work rather hard, or be intellectually lazy, to miss the continual lesson.”

And: “It is not that suffering or failure might happen, or that it will only happen if you are bad (which is what religious people often think), or that it will happen to the unfortunate, or to a few in other places, or that you can somehow by cleverness or righteousness avoid it. No, it will happen, and to you! Losing, failing, falling, sin, and the suffering that comes from those experiences—all of this is a necessary and even good part of the human journey.”

The Trident.

A Navy SEAL earns it after going through one of themost rigorous military training protocols in history. Then, he RE-EARNS it every day.

When Emerson and I visited the SEAL training facility, we received a few gifts—a special coin from Captain Bob, a hat and a t-shirt from Mags (the former highest enlisted SEAL who is now the Director of Mentorship for the Naval Special Warfare Center) and a tour led by Bob and another young SEAL named Tim.

Mags also gave me a card that’s given to graduating SEALs. It has huge letters on the front that says: “EARN YOUR TRIDENT EVERY DAY.” On the other side it has the U.S. Navy SEAL ethos. I keep that card in the very front of my wallet so it’s the first thing I see every time I open it—a constant reminder to be constantly ready to serve.

But the most precious gift we received that day was in the form of the quiet, strong humility of these warriors. Their presence didn’t jump around and shout “Check me out!” Their power was much deeper than that. They were exemplars of the wisdom Mags has printed on his business card: “The deed is all, not the glory.”

Here’s to earning our version of a Trident every day, as we practice our philosophy and remain ready to humbly serve.

So, Adam hits rock bottom. Finds his good soul hanging out with God then finds an amazing woman who stands by his side through multiple relapses. Then he decided to become a SEAL.

When he told the local recruiting officer about his criminal record and drug addiction issues, the guy basically laughed at him and asked him if this was a joke. Adam told him he was serious. He was able to get in because the father of one of his childhood (and lifelong) friends was one of the leading recruiting officers in the area who vouched for his character and told the local recruiter to get him in and to “treat him like he was my son.”

btw: Another guy who got laughed at when he went to a Navy recruiting facility saying he wanted to be a SEAL? David Goggins. He was so overweight at the time that he had to go from recruiting office to recruiting office until he found one that would give him a shot. Read his story in Can’t Hurt Me. (And don’t forget to notice the heroic “Falling Upward” cycle!!)

All that to say, Adam is now a SEAL. He’s ALL IN ALL THE TIME and wants to join the top 1% of the SEALs in what’s known as DEVGRU—aka, SEAL Team Six. The absolute best of the best.

But… Then he gets hit in the eye with a bullet during a training exercise. Gah. After multiple surgeries he loses his sight (and eventually his eyeball). Does that stop him? Of course not. OMMS! He teaches himself to shoot with his LEFT HAND and passes Sniper School. But, he’s still not done. Now he has to go through another BRUTAL training regimen. Before he gets a chance to do THAT, he’s in an accident in a Humvee in Afghanistan. Several fingers on his right hand get nearly ripped off and need to be surgically reattached.

Does that stop him? No. Of course not. OMMS. But now the Navy itself is saying he’s just too beat up to even TRY to go through the next-level training. One of his former Commanders gets him in. Everyone is skeptical he can go through the training but they give him a shot.

“Adam’s biggest concern was the Close Quarters Battle (CQB) portion of the course, in which he would have to clear rooms, search houses, react to bad guys: tough shooting exercises that require both lightning-fast reactions and pinpoint accuracy. ‘This doesn’t even compare to what Adam was up against,’ says one Green Team cadre instructor, ‘but let’s say you’re right-handed and somebody tells you to start writing left-handed. You have to retrain yourself to write fast, you can’t drop below the line with your letters, the letters have to be perfect, and you’ve got to know and write down the answers to do-or-die questions almost simultaneously. And do all this with bad guys shooting at you. Adam had to rewire his brain to react ‘left’ when his whole life he’d reacted ‘right,’ in a course where half of the very best guys who have two good eyes and two good hands still fail.’”

And: “We teach our guys to shoot with their off hand in case their good one is injured in battle, so I’ve seen a lot of guys try and shoot non-dominant hand. Adam was smooth. I’d joke with him: ‘C’mon, come clean, you’re a Jedi, right?’ And he’d say, ‘Naw, I just pray a lot.’”

P.S. All of that reminded me of a story Troy Bassham shares in Attainment. Check out the +1.

Ultimately, Adam Brown and his family made the ultimate sacrifice.

For me, reading a book like this is a very humbling experience—serving as a fierce challenge to serve our families and communities and countries and world as profoundly as all the humble warriors who have given their lives to serve and protect us.

To Kelley and Nathan and Savannah and to all the men and women who have served our country: Thank you.

Here’s to playing our roles well as we do the hard work to have the strength for two as we serve as profoundly and humbly and heroically as we can.

Let’s change the world. One person at a time. Together.

Starting with you and me. Today.