Another insight from reading "The Victors," by Stephen Ambrose.
The Royal Winnipegs (a Canadian group, all volunteers) landed at Sword Beach on D-Day. The Germans had presighted machine gun firing lines and were pouring murderous fire on a platoon as they approached a roll of barbed wire and a strip of land mines. The strategy to get through the wire was to use a bangalore torpedo to blow a gap through the wire, and then they could run forward to attack the machine gun positions. The Royal Winnipegs had already lost many men getting to the wire; it was a death zone. The only hope of survival was to move forward off that beach.
The torpedo failed to explode. Machine gun fire continued to pour on their position. There were no other torpedos available.
One of the soldiers [Ambrose does not list his name] threw himself facedown on the wire so that others could cross on his back to safety.
There's a great illustration here for us. Jesus fell upon the cross to make a way for us, his physical body reconciling us to God. (See Colossians 1:21-22)
We are ambassadors for Christ, living for His greater purposes, putting others ahead of our own interests, extending ourselves and suffering that others might live. What barbed wire do we need to fall on so others have an escape, our very bodies creating a safe path? What obstacles and difficulties must we flatten so others can move forward out of certain death?
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