By CRYSTAL GOODREMOTE
For Word News
CEDARVILLE, Ohio (WordNews.org) April 12, 2012 – God used the mission that became known as Black Hawk Down to change lives for Christ, says Jeff Struecker, one of the heroes on that mission.
The mission, chronicled in a best-selling book and film, was almost a disaster. On Oct. 3, 1993, U.S. Army Rangers were dropped by helicopter into Mogadishu to capture a Somali warlord’s top two lieutenants.
Struecker said that the Black Hawk Down mission is the closest he has ever felt to death. It was only supposed to take 30 minutes. At first, everything was running as planned, he said. That was until one ranger got seriously injured when he slipped off the rope as he was sliding out of one of the helicopters. Struecker’s job was to grab the injured ranger and bring him back to base.
He loaded his fellow ranger into his Humvee and headed back to base as gunshots rang out.
Struecker said he wasn’t too worried, until he turned a corner.
“It was like the entire city erupted in gunfire on these three vehicles,” he said. “I have never been so terrified in all of my life as I was when I was standing in the back of that Humvee.”
But his faith in God helped him during that time of need.
As a child, Struecker said, he had a fear of death.
“My earliest memory is that I was laying in bed at night, and I was completely aware that one of these days my heart is going to stop beating and my life here on earth is going to end and it terrified me.”
He became a follower of Christ at age 13 when some of his neighbors explained the gospel to him.
And his fear of death disappeared, he told students recently during a chapel service at Cedarville University.
Until the day of Black Hawk Down. And yet, on that day, Struecker said, everything became crystal clear.
“Then I began to realize, that ‘Jeff, your life has never been in your hands it is in God’s hands, and are you going to trust him with what happens next?’”
There were only two possibilities, as far as his future was concerned, he said.
“I realized that either I go home to my home in Georgia or I go home to my father in heaven,” Struecker said. “Because of what Jesus has done for me 2,000 years ago, at this point it doesn’t matter what happens next, I cannot lose – that changed the way that I thought for the rest of the night.”
Struecker said that his fellow rangers noticed something different in him that night.
“For the next 24 hours I had men lined up to talk to me about Jesus because they could see the difference He makes when life gets tough and the chips are down,” Struecker said.
After the Black Hawks Down mission, Struecker said that he felt that God was calling him to full time ministry. He served as chaplain in the Army for 10 years and now serves at Calvary Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia.
“There is only one thing that will get you through the greatest challenges in life,” he said, “and it is genuine faith in a real living Savior who loves you and has a plan for you if you will turn it over to Him.”
Struecker’s message can be heard here
Print
Email
