As William Brown reads, Preparing Boys for Battle," we learn of a father's responsibility to teach and prepare his sons for hardships. This life is full of hardships and trials, therefore, it is important that they should be prepared for them. However, it is not only important that fathers prepare them for hardships, they must also teach them to consider those hardships as joy (Acts 9:16)."

Every son needs to hear his father say, Son, consider it joy. Every son needs to hear his father say, Son, consider it joy when you encounter trials. Acts 9 16, I will show him what great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Acts 9 16. Chapter 10. The Meat Grinder.

My father used the term the meat grinder many times during my childhood. I never really knew the origin of the term except from the context in which he used it. I knew it meant a place where people get torn up. So I grew up with a consciousness that there were situations – meat grinders – in the life which are harsh situations. These shaking circumstances are often tests of faith which either make us or break us.

Many years later I would learn that the meat grinder was the location of one of the most horrible battles on Iwo Jima where an entire marine company was closed down. Deep within my father's memories are images of flame thrower, walls of artillery fire, grenades, and an impenetrable wall of resistance called Hill 382. This famous Iwo Jima battle exhausted and extinguished the lives of many. Five hundred died the first day of battle. This place was actually known by a number of other terms besides the meat grinder.

Turkey Knob, the amphitheater, Hill 382 were a few. It was harmless looking hill, only 382 feet above sea level, hence the name Hill 382. It was the second highest point on Iwo Jima giving a 360 degree view of the island. The Japanese possession of this location gave them the ability to see everything going on from the base of Mount Suribachi all the way to the extreme north end of Iwo Jima. The Marines took this hill six times and lost it five times.

This is from the combat record from the battle from 1800 26 February 45 to 1800 27 February 45 D plus 8 Hill 382 One of the most vital terrain features in the area was made up of a series of deep fissures or crevices which blended well into the scheme of the Japanese defense. It was envisioned that the capture of this terrain freak would be a costly and time-consuming job. My father remembers watching a flamethrower tank a hundred yards away from him, taking out a pill-box on the meat-grinder. He saw men, black with blood and grime and smoke, staggering back from the battle line and collapsing, completely spent from several days there. That hill was the nerve center of the enemy's defenses for the north end.

Like Siribachi, it was a complex system of caves and pillboxes with tunnels running through it. A cross section of the hill makes you think of an ant farm and its tunnels and passageways. There were at least three levels. One cave ran 800 yards to a nearby village which another had 14 entrances. The gallantry that characterized the victory at the meat grinder is exemplified in the Medal of Honor recipient Private First Class Douglas T.

Jacobson. The congressional record reads, Private Jacobson destroyed a total of 16 enemy positions and annihilated approximately 75 Japanese, thereby contributing essentially to the success of his division's operations against the fanatically defended outposts of the Japanese Empire. His gallant conduct in the face of tremendous odds enhanced and sustained the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. The meat grinder was a trial of gargantuan proportions. Welcome to life on Ewol.

Trials are part of life and courage must be there to meet them. Courage is something that fathers can promote in their sons by helping them understand some of the fine points about suffering. If they know what they are facing they will better be able to handle it. A father must, number one, teach of surprises and dramatic changes in life. Often some of the most innocent and safe looking situations become meat grinders for us.

We're going along in life and there is a trial of magnificent proportions that emerges from one harmless situation. In the journey of life, hills that seem to be small at first sight may become high mountains where you might become sick, destitute, or rejected by friends and family. Some of the changes that happen to us at these times may be permanent. Hill 382 looks safe enough upon approach but as Captain Ridland said, you barely know it's there but when we climbed it it was higher than anything I ever saw. It was at the meat grinder that E Company, EZ Company, fought.

This was the outfit which raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, but the meat grinder would wipe them out forever. After eight days of battle, the casualties would be so heavy that they would mean the end of E Company. The day after the battle ended, the weary remnants of E Company would be reassigned to F Company. A father must, number two, show that sometimes suffering is the only way to victory. The battle for Iwo Jima could not be won without taking Hill 382.

It was a necessary sacrifice for it put victory within view but it came at a high price. The meat grinder teaches us that war is a parable of hardship and loss. It exposes us to times of pressure and loss that may be necessary to accomplish a greater goal. Fathers must say, number three, never be dismayed. There are times when we must go through a meat grinder to get to the final victory.

The meat grinders of life take on many forms, a natural disaster, the loss of a child, a financial cataclysm, a broken relationship, or a family problem. Our loving God who desires to refine us like fire, to make us into His own image, designs all the challenges we face. We can persevere because we know that God is doing something in our lives and the current trial is His tool. Hebrews 11 32 to 40, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1 verses 2 and 3.

In Hebrews 11, For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn into, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us. Hebrews 11, 1 Thessalonians 3, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. Quote, Son, consider it joy when you encounter trials.

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