A crazy branch in the Bondurant family tree.

Lawless

Start with this thought.

What do you do with gut-wrenching, bone-crushing heartbreak?

Now, transition to this (don’t worry, we’ll be back)…

This weekend, Kia and I (re)watched the movie Lawless. Lawless holds a special place in my heart because it’s the story of my kin – the notorious Bondurant boys.

Based on a true story, Lawless tells the tale of the 3 Bondurant brothers – Howard, Forest and Jack. These infamous moonshiners in prohibition-era Franklin, Virginia race throughout the county fighting the law and battling gangsters.

The story hinges on Jack and opens with the brothers as boys in a pig pen. Howard and Forest hound Jack to shoot the prized pig. Jack can’t do it. Hanging his head in shame, Jack watches Forest finish the job. No matter how hard pushed, no matter how many opportunities given, Jack constantly faces this question,

Am I enough to be a Bondurant?

Jack, though, is at a disadvantage. Howard went to the Great War (WWI), and he saw his entire company killed in one day. Howard alone was the survivor. Forest was left to care for Jack and the family as their parents died unexpectedly early.

Against our natural inclination, Jack’s disadvantage is a lack of pain. Life is too easy. His brothers shelter him. They cover for him. Howard is pushed by the weight of being a sole survivor. Forest is pushed by the cares of the family business. Jack has nothing in his story pushing him anywhere, so he goes nowhere.

As so often happens in a movie, everything changes in an instant. With one twist of the wrist, Jack feels deep and personal pain. It pushes Jack to places he hasn’t gone before. He’s had opportunity, but something always holds him back. Jack’s emotional pain disables the fear of physical pain. Pain pushes Jack to attack.

Pain turns story.

Pain turns Jack’s story.

Pain turns story. Pain pushes. There is no middle ground when pain invades. Pain gives 2 choices:

• Attack
• Retreat

The first 30 years of my life were much like Jack’s. I experienced pain but from a distance. My parents divorced, but I was too young to remember. My grandfather died, but I was too physically removed to be close with him. In 7^th grade, I realized I would never be a baseball star. I missed the school bus on occasion. The pain I felt was inconsequential in the grand scheme of life, or it wasn’t actually mine to hold.

The last 10 years of life are a different story. I was inches away from bankruptcy. I quit a business (though it was fiscally solvent). I’ve watched close relationships explode. I saw a close high school friend crushed by cancer.

Pain has been near, and I’ve done both. I’ve retreated. I’ve attacked.

What will you do with gut-wrenching, bone-crushing heartbreak? I don’t doubt pain is near to you, and if it’s not…just give it 5 minutes. What will you do with your pain? While there is a time for retreat, I encourage you to attack.

ATTACK

Be careful in what you attack though. Pain will tell you to attack a person. Be warned it won’t alleviate the pain. Pain ends when new life begins. You will find new life when you –

• Attack life.
• Attack a dream.
• Attack your spiritual Enemy.

Attacking a person will only cause more pain. Don’t do it.

My 2015 Word of the Year is ATTACK. When pain turns your story, I encourage you to do the same.

PS – for those wondering, the Bondurant’s from Lawless are my true flesh and blood. They are my grandfather’s 1^st cousins. They played together as kids. Like Matt Bondurant (author of The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story), I knew nothing about the story of the Bondurant boys until watching the movie. It is truly a crazy branch in my family tree.