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In the film, Free Burma Rangers, we meet Dave and Karen Eubanks who (together with their children) serve God and people in a very particular way—as foreign missionaries on the frontlines of war. While few of Us will serve God in the same way, the Eubanks’ particular story can inspire each of us to serve God and people in our own particular way.

Many of us surround our lives and our children with comforts and cling wrap. But the “easy” and “safe” way is sterile and ultimately unrewarding. Dave and Karen decided to raise their three kids on the literal frontlines.
For the rest of us, regardless of where we live, living a life on mission will require that we sometimes deny ourselves ease and comfort, and instead embrace the cost of bringing God’s kingdom to this world.

The Free Burma Rangers encounter horrifying levels of brutality. When Dave comes across the corpses of two twenty-year-old females, he wrestles with Jesus’ teaching that we should forgive others. Then he comes undone as he prays: “| want to kill the Burma army… but help me to forgive them and love them.” Other than how hard forgiveness sometimes is, the Rangers teach us four things about forgiveness…

One of the most inspiring things about Dave and the other Rangers Is their constant reliance on God in prayer. They really do “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:16) and “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph 6:17-18) From this video clip, we can draw four kinds of insights on how to pray…

Birds of a feather tend to flock together. We tend to build relationships with, and prefer to serve people, like ourselves. But Jesus came to mix things up—leading his people to cross geographic, cultural, ethnic, religious and socioeconomic lines for the sake of community and service. The first century world was as divided as our own, yet God’s Spirit brought about spiritual community between “Jews … Gentiles … Scythians.” (Col 3:11)

The Free Burma Rangers are not just motivated by love—they are also carried along by faith. They are “sure of what [they] hope for and certain of what [they] do not see.” (Heb 11:1) Their faith can inspire our own in at least four ways…

In the documentary’s most nail-biting and heart-stopping scene, Dave is exposed to the murderous fire of ISIS snipers as he seeks to rescue a little girl named Suria who is out in the open, sitting beside the mother she has just lost. Dave’s courageous act of love can inspire the way we love and serve others in several ways.

The final rescue scene in the documentary has a way of searing itself into our imagination and memory. A woman, named Iman, shot days before, lies nearly dead in open rubble under the scorching sun. She lifts her hand and quietly calls for help from the Free Burma Rangers. Dave realizes that rescuing her will likely reveal to the ruthless ISIS soldiers the hidden position of the Rangers, and all the wounded people they are carrying to safety. Understandably, his first prayer is that God takes her life. But God intends to bring hope where there is none: his hope comes in the form of a rope. We can learn four things about finding hope when we are in a hopeless situation…