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True Soldier Stories

"Courage is the ability to move; when all around you are frozen in fear
and no one would blame you if you did nothing at all." Capt. Click. Phx. PD

My Name is J.R. Clark

Taken from the book Think About it... for your reading convenience

As I see it, we are all God’s children, living in a world full of experiences and challenges. No one can escape them or run away. How you choose to deal with your problems is up to you.

                How you respond to each and every situation is your choice.
                                                               You are responsible for your actions.

In my youth, I grew up going my own way, proud, hard and strong. I thought no matter how sharp-tongued I was, it made no difference at all. Some of the time I did get my point across, but it was costly. So as a tough guy, I had to work harder and more effectively. I did get a whole new outlook on life from the place known as the “School of Hard Knocks.” As I continued to grow, hardness began to be built right into me.

As a soldier, I could tell you how it is to watch a man dissolve in front of your eyes in a sheer second. I could also tell you what it’s like to watch a man die by falling from a second story railing. I have even seen a man burn from phosphorous and watched as his skin melted away. I have watched human beings shoot drugs, overdose and then die from them. I have seen human beings be maimed beyond belief. I have been so scared in different times of my life of being enacted upon by danger, that I actually thought I would die. I’ve listened to my heart physically pound against my chest from fear and thought it would explode.

          Being a veteran of the Vietnam War,
                 I came to the conclusion that a tough guy is not at all how tough you are,
                           but how tough you allow yourself to be
                                                                        at the right moment.

I returned from the war, only to discover that I was not done experiencing some of those heart
pounding fearful times. Sometimes they occurred in my life here as they do yours. If you are smart, you won’t go through troubled times alone. Learn to invite your Heavenly Father in. He can not only ease the pain, but also can actually favor the situation for you. Later in life, I learned how to analyze the whole picture instead of just the current position I was facing. My peers told me that the tough-guy is the one that is the sharpest and most of the time a leader. Unfortunately, the so called tough guy doesn’t always lead or make decisions in the way that our Heavenly Father would.

When I started going back to church, I regained an inner happiness that I didn’t realize my soul had been thirsting for. I gained an inner peace with my Heavenly Father. All the things I thought that were so very important in my life, are someone else’s misfortune now. Living a regular LDS life, I am really gaining more insight as to how to channel being a tough guy into teaching others the things they need to know. Like how not to take the direction that is usually chosen by the tough-guy.

I hope you take the time to get to know yourself and take inventory of your life. You will see exactly where I am coming from. I watched my large home, yacht, and country club property and savings dissolve, bit by bit, piece by piece. One of the things that I choose to tell you is not only did I lose most of my worldly goods but I also lost my profession of twenty years. After it was all over and the dust settled, I realized I finally found my way back to the future and to the things that are truly important. I began living the basics of the gospel and found my total happiness.

                                  Happiness is a warm soft glow
                                         just an uplifting heart beat away from you.

In choosing to find it, you have to rebuild. Reuse your great gifts given to you by your
Heavenly Father. Apply them in a better, more useful direction. As you do, you will not only obtain happiness for yourself, but also for those around you. Use your ability to see how you can shape the outcome for good. That way, the word tough can mean not having to use toughness.

Your Heavenly Father needs you in these last days to be strong, to be a good example to others and to make right choices, so put on your armor. It is all right to still be a ‘tough guy’ but you will be so much more effective and efficient when you are humble and choose to have the Spirit with you. A tough person is one who helps instead of bullies. A tough person is one who kneels down to a child, one who hugs the needy, one who helps the meek and mild. A tough person is one who kneels down with his family in prayer, praying for others and for his own forgiveness when needed. Thanks to the help of my Heavenly Father, I have been shaped and reshaped and molded into a brand new me: Brother Tough Guy.

One that I now respect and always deep down inside, wanted to be.

                                       J.R. Clark

 

If you are or were a police officer, soldier, fireman
or wife, mother, father of such or some other branch of emergency personnel
and would like to share an unusual testimony building experience with others,
please contact us for details at

Samuel@ldscops.com

or use the link on the front page of this site at

www.LDSCOPS.com

Thank you and God bless,

Samuel-LDS

"Think About it..." mailed to your home for only $14.95   S&H included

Read "Think About it..." Online Warrior Stories  | Excerpts | News Articles | Poems
Rear Cover | Reviews | About the Book | About the Author | Order | E-Mail  |  Home

S&J Liberty Publishing
P.O. Box 7899   Mesa, AZ 85216-7899
A 317 page full size book, mailed to your home for only $14.95   S&H included