ONE decision...(Part 5 - the Thrilling Conclusion)

An interesting side benefit of Chamberlain's pivotal decision, one largely overlooked by scholars and historians, is the presence of a hedge of thorns. First mentioned in the Bible (perhaps my Minister Cousin Randy can supply chapter & verse), a "hedge of thorns" is the Divine protection placed upon someone destined to make a difference. Until you have accomplished what you were sent here to do, you will not - you CANNOT - be harmed. Joshua Chamberlain, on Little Round Top that July day, his choice not yet made, was wrapped in that hedge of thorns.

I can hear you scoff.

So I shall enter into evidence a letter addressed to "The Honorable Governor Joshua L. Chamberlain", which arrived at the Maine Statehouse some years after the war.
The letter reads:

Dear Sir:
I want to tell you of a little passage in the Battle of Round Top, Gettysburg, concerning you and me, which I am now glad of. Twice in that fight I had your life in my hands. I got a safe place between two rocks, and drew bead fair and square on you. You were standing in the open behind the center of your line, full exposed. I knew your rank by your uniform and actions, and I thought it a mighty good thing to put you out of the way. I rested my gun on the rock and took steady aim. I started to pull the trigger, but then some queer notion stopped me. Then I got ashamed of my weakness and went through the same motions again. I had you, perfectly certain. But that same queer something shut right down on me. I couldn't pull the trigger, and, gave it up - that is, your life. I am glad of it now, and hope you are.
Yours Truly,
A Member of the Fifteenth Alabama

You too, right here, right now, are under this same hedge-of-thorns protection. You may feel fear, but it is illusion. Until you have done what you were put on this earth to do, you will. not. be. harmed.

It all boils down to this: your story, circumstances, and timing may not be as dramatic as Chamberlain's, but the stakes are the same. There is a time in every person's life where a decision is required. That decision, should you make it, will have a far-reaching effect on generations yet unborn. There is a thin thread that extends from you to tens - no, hundreds of thousands of lives. The example you set, the actions you take, and yes, even ONE DECISION you make will literally change the world.

A decision - to charge.

So do it. Change your life. Change your family's future. Change the world.

Charge.