A Sacrifice of Love

Written by Pastor Eric Everhart

On October 3, 1993, our military unit, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, found itself deployed in Somalia in support of a highly classified operation. The operation was supposed to be a “snatch and grab” mission with little or no enemy contact. As the operation began, we quickly learned that the intelligence information on the enemy was not correct. We had underestimated the strength and capability of the enemy which would soon change the course of the mission. 

During our engagement with the enemy one of our UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters was shot down. The Blackhawk crashed in the middle of the city with part of its crew severely injured but still alive. The enemy soon realized where the crash site was and hundreds of armed Somalis converged on the wounded crew and the crash site.  

Flying just above the downed helicopter, another aircraft carried 2 snipers from a Special Forces team. They watched from above as the armed mob closed in on the downed Blackhawk with the intent to kill. Understanding that help would not arrive to the crew in time, the two snipers, Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, requested permission from headquarters to be dropped into the crash site to protect the crew. Multiple times Shughart and Gordon insisted that they be allowed to go into the site to engage the enemy, assuming the personal and deadly risk to themselves.  

Finally, the commander of the operation radioed the two snipers and asked them, “Do you understand what you are asking for, I need to hear you say it?” They both knew that this was an impossible situation and that they would probably not make it out alive. But, they insisted once again, “yes, we understand, send us.” Then the commander approved their plea and the two soldiers were dropped into the chaos on the ground. 

They immediately found themselves in an intense firefight, outgunned and outnumbered. They fought the hundreds of Somalis by themselves, protecting the crew at any cost.  It didn’t take long, though, before they ran out of ammunition, were overrun, shot and killed. Before being killed, Shughart and Gordon saved the life of one of the pilots. They sacrificed their own lives for the life of just one of their comrades, a brother, a friend. Although the price for just one life was high, the sacrifice was made out of the love for their brother. I will never forget those men and the selflessness they demonstrated that day!

As I remember the price that was paid on that day in Somalia, it is a reminder for me of the amazing sacrifice Jesus made for each of us. Jesus came into this world as a human, taking on flesh. Not only did he leave his throne in heaven, he came into this world on a mission, a mission to save God’s people. Jesus lived in this world knowing full well that a time would come when he, too, would lay down his life. And when that time came, Jesus selflessly sacrificed his own life to bring “new life” to the people of this world.    

As sinners, the debt owed for our transgressions against our Holy God is high: death (Romans 6:23)! But God loves you and me so very much that he did not want to see even one of us perish. Instead, God sent his son into the firefight, knowing that it would cost him everything! Jesus paid our debt with his life, placing himself in harm’s way, on a cross, so that you and I could be forgiven–so that we could live! “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” John 15:13.

I live my life to the fullest every day to remember and honor the great sacrifice my brothers made that day on the streets of Somalia. How, then, should we live in response to the greatest act of selflessness of all humankind, the life-giving sacrifice of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ? “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” Ephesians 4:1. We are called to be children of God, his prized possession, holy ones. Wake up every morning giving thanks and remembering the amazing gift God has given to you. Walk each day in obedience to the Lord and live a life filled with gratitude, sharing his good news with the world! “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” Luke 10:27.

Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow! 

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