On Monday afternoon, May 11, 2026, traffic was crawling along Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Massachusetts, beside the Charles River. Then a man with an assault-style rifle began walking along the road, firing into cars. He fired more than 50 rounds. Bullets tore through windshields and doors. Terrified drivers abandoned their vehicles and ran or crawled under their cars. One woman, Rachael Saveriano, was boxed in by traffic as the gunman walked toward her. She had nowhere to go. Then a stranger opened her door. She said: “He opened my car door, pulled me out, and told me to run.” She said he held the door open as a shield between her and the gunfire. Then she added, “He stayed.”
That stranger was a Marine veteran who had served as a sergeant in Iraq and later worked as a firearms instructor. He had been sitting in traffic like everyone else. He took his licensed pistol from the safe in his back seat. While everyone else ran away from the gunfire, he warned bystanders and moved toward it. Together with a Massachusetts state trooper, he brought the shooter down. Two men were seriously wounded that day, but no one was killed. When more officers arrived, he laid his weapon on the ground and quietly stepped out of the spotlight.
For four months, most of the public did not know his name. Then, on September 11, 2026, the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the governor of Massachusetts presented Thomas Joseph “TJ” Swenson Jr. with the Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery. Amy Sweeney was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11. As her hijacked plane flew toward the North Tower, she calmly passed critical details about the hijackers to the ground. Twenty-five years later, her courage was used to honor Swenson. Rachael Saveriano nominated him, and the two have since become friends.
As Veterans Day approaches, I keep thinking about this chain of courage. Working in Waynesville, just outside the gates of Fort Leonard Wood, I see uniformed military personnel at the gas station, in the grocery line, and in my office. God reminds me that courage is not meant to stop with the person who shows it…it is meant to be contagious.
But courage doesn’t magically appear when a crisis hits!
TJ Swenson did not find his courage on Memorial Drive. Deployment, training, discipline, and repetition had prepared him, so that when the moment came, he was calm and did not hesitate. I have learned that faith in God works the same way. God develops and builds courage in hundreds of unremarkable acts of obedience beforehand. When I choose to trust Him in small things, I am being trained to stand firm in big ones. When God sent Joshua into a land full of giants and walled cities, He did not promise him an easy assignment; rather, God promised him His presence.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Absolute courage is found in the righteous presence of God. He is never afraid. This courage does not come from self-righteousness; it comes from God’s righteousness imputed to us through Jesus Christ and manifested throughout each hour of our day, as reflected in our daily choices. The writer of Proverbs wrote:
The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Proverbs 28:1
Boldness is not the absence of fear; it is the settled confidence that God is present in the danger with us.
TJ put his own body between a stranger and a rifle. He did not know her name, her politics, or her story. He only knew she was in danger and he could do something about it. That is the kind of love Jesus described and called us to demonstrate:
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
God’s love for us enables us to move toward danger for someone else’s sake.
Every veteran who signed their name and raised their right hand made that same promise. They agreed in advance to stand between danger and people they would never meet. That points me to an even greater love. Jesus did not merely risk His life for His friends. He gave it for people who were still His enemies:
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7–8
My friend, the loving courage of Christ is contagious!
Look at how this story unfolds. A flight attendant’s bravery in 2001 became an award that honors ordinary people who rise to extraordinary moments. A Marine’s bravery in 2026 carried that legacy forward. And a frightened woman who was told to run became a grateful friend who made sure the world learned his name. Courage passed from hand to hand like a torch. The Bible describes the life of faith the same way. We are not running alone. We are running in the footsteps of faithful men and women who went before us, with our eyes fixed on Christ, the most courageous One of all:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1–2
We are engaged in spiritual warfare against an enemy capable of unfathomable depths of evil. But we can inspire courageous faith in God as we fight the battle! Our great Commander wants us to stir it up in one another to do mighty works!
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)
God is also teaching me that the purest acts of courage are NEVER about me.
When TJ was finally named, he did not make the moment about himself. In his statement, he honored Amy Sweeney and turned the attention back to the wounded: “My thoughts remain with the two men whose lives were nearly taken from them.”
My friend, many of the veterans I know are the same. They have served in horrible conditions, but they rarely talk about any of it. Their humility is not weakness; rather, it is strength under control. This kind of humble courage does not draw glory to a person; it draws people toward God. We are the instruments; God is the real Savior and Healer of souls. The Bible reminds us:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16
So how do I honor the courageous service members this Veterans Day?
I can let their example call me to the high purpose God gives every born again believer. When the lawyer asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus told the story of a stranger who stopped on a dangerous road to help a wounded man whom all the others had passed by, and then He said:
“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Luke 10:36–37
Most of us will never face a rifle in traffic. But every day, God places someone in front of us who is anxious, frightened, and uncertain of their eternity. The question is whether we will open the door and have the courage to stand between them and the enemy as we show them the way to eternal life—or whether we will let the enemy take them out.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the men and women who have stood between danger and people they never met. Heal the wounds they carry, both the visible ones and the hidden ones. Make me strong and courageous, not because I am fearless, but because You are with me wherever I go. Train my heart to be obedient so that I will stand firm on the battlefield. Teach me to love like Jesus, who moved toward my sin and my danger and laid down His life for me while I was still His enemy. Give me eyes to see the person who is trapped and frightened, and give me the courage to open the door and stay. Let my courage point others to You, and inspire courage in everyone around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
