A Very Inspirational Book

My good friend Von gave me a book that I'm currently reading titled "Scarred" by Dave Roever. Eight months into his tour of duty in Vietnam, Dave was burned beyond recognition when a phosphorous grenade he was poised to throw exploded in his hand. The ordeal left him hospitalized for fourteen months, where he underwent numerous major surgeries. His survival and life are miraculous. One of his quotes is, "Every time I look in a mirror, put on my hair, stick on my ear, and start my day ... Forgetting is not possible. Forgiving is." Last night as I was reading it I read some words that were really very powerful. I read them a couple of times and decided that I wanted to share them with you.

"We must remember that time exists in a trinity: there's the past, present and future. All sides of this three dimensional description are of equal importance. We learn from our past and use it in our present to build a better future. At least that's the way it ought to be. It's when we make choices on the basis of pleasure, not discipline and experience, that we destroy the strength of the time triangle. When we fail to utilize the past, we have only the present and the future. Therefore we repeat the same mistakes and constantly reinvent the wheel. While it is true that we cannot change the past, we can only change the future, it doesn't justify ignoring the past. We can't change it, but we certainly had better learn from it because it can change us."

Dave Roever's faith in God was outstanding. In the book, he describes how his faith helped him overcome his physical and mental trauma and forgive the people of Vietnam. When all was lost, he kept fighting for what he believed in. After the war, he went back to Vietnam to teach God's word. The best part was he fought for his country even though no one made him.

There was also a "funny" part that I read last night. It reminds me of his humor through his whole ordeal. This was right after the accident and the helicopter had just come to pick him up. He had called out to the medic and

"The pilot, responding to him, lost control and for a moment, the tail spun around, the helicopter dropped, and I felt weightlessness in an intense way. I realized we were crashing and I thought, Dear, God, we're going to crash and I'll be the only survivor! I've often described this day as "one of those days when nothing goes right."