Guest Chaplain Article: A 5 Letter Word - TRUST

A 5 Letter Word: TRUST

Thinking back over my years in Special Forces/Special Operations I was reminded that probably the most important word and the most important unspoken factor in the life of a Special Forces Operator was TRUST.

Every time I exited a perfectly good aircraft while in fright/flight I trusted my life to as unknown parachute rigger (not to mention the pilot of the aircraft) and thought nothing about it.

When mountain climbing I put my trust in my pitons, my rope, and whoever was belaying me. When walking through the jungle or an IED seeded desert I put my trust in whoever was walking point.

When fast roping in Panama I put my trust both in the rope and the anchor point in the chopper. When scuba diving we trust both in the equipment and that whoever filled our tanks put in the right stuff. When deployed we trust our wife to be faithful just as she expects the same of us.

When inserting into the badlands we trust that the intel folks have provided good intel and that we won’t be greeted by a hot LZ. When running for your life you TRUST that when you get to the extraction point someone friendly will be there. On and On. Almost everything we do in SF/SO is built on Trust.

With all this in mind I’m amazed at how few in the SF community place their trust in Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, and whose death on a Roman cross for us gave us the opportunity to become children of God for eternity. Most of us in S.F. are do-it-yourselfers. Sounds great when you’re young and bullet proof but age and sobriety wake us up to the reality that we’re all eventually dying and that someday we’ll stand beyond the grave before a just and loving God to give an after-action report on the life He gave us here on Earth.

King Solomon, the wisest man of his day, gave us all good advice when he wrote, “TRUST in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding but in ALL of your ways acknowledge Him...”

Isn’t it time we get beyond putting our trust in ourselves with all of our shortcomings, or “in the great Jumpmaster in the sky” to putting our present and our future into the hands of the Living God, Jesus Christ? That’s my plan. How about you?

Vahan Sipantzi
Chaplain (Col) USA Ret.