Many times, we have all come to this feeling. The feeling that everywhere we turn there is something else waiting for us. You’re surrounded, the wolf is at the door, the enemy is at your gate, and there is nowhere to turn besides facing the main aggressor in your life. What do you do?

Today we see a clear example of this in the Russo- Ukrainian war, the Siege of Mariupol, and the Azovastal steel plant, where over 2,000 Ukrainian Soldiers held out against all odds until there was only one option left, surrender. I hear so often people ask how people in these situations hold their composure and keep that positive manner about themselves in such a foreboding situation.

Personally, I was just talking with a client who was feeling surrounded. He felt as if he had nowhere to run and was considering punching his own time clock. I let him know that not too long ago I was homeless with my wife and kids; permanently barred from working a gainfully employed job. My VA compensation at the time wasn’t meeting my family’s needs to survive and every number we called for help listed by the VA was just another number to call after calling the first one. My right arm was losing function when we were six hours away from home on the streets, and my wife couldn’t drive a standard shift vehicle, not to mention it was my birthday and we were eating off pieces of cardboard.

I felt like an absolute failure to my family with no other options than to give up and take myself out of the situation. At the time it felt like the only thing I could do was be even more of a burden. I thought on that very intensely for the first day out of my thirteen days on the streets, and brothers and sisters, that makes for a very long day.

I prayed on it very hard along with doing everything physically I could to negate the situation, and on the third day this verse stuck in my ever being. James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” I held onto that one little speck of light I could see and feel in my life at that moment, because friends, darkness is the absence of light.

I ask of you like I asked of my client, find your light. Use it to bolster your defense against the urge to give into these situations, actions and temptations. On the third day my perspective was changed even though all odds were against me. On that third day Christ defeated death even though all odds were against him. In some circumstances we are all surrounded in our own ways, and we all come to be in that darkness. It can be very consuming with no way out. But on that first day God said, “let there be light” and we should all look towards that light to preserve till the end. In the book of Genesis, it says “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” In his likeness we all try to do the same within our own hearts and make the best of our situations no matter what they may be.

Very Respectfully,

Chaplain Tyler A. Dean

Veteran Advocate

Ordained Minister

POC: 740-285-1844