“I Got Nowhere Else to Go!”

I know. It’s not the best grammar in the world, but since it’s a quote, you have to go with what was actually said—so there you have it.

Do any of you actually remember this line from the movie, “An Officer and a Gentlemen?”

The main character—a navy cadet (played by Richard Gere) was trying his best not to wash out of the program, but the odds were truly stacked against him.

• He came from the wrong side of the tracks (BTW How are you supposed to know which side is right or wrong?)
• He didn’t have any family to fall back on
• He was dirt poor
• He was extremely rough around the edges (raised by wolves might be more accurate).
• He had a chip on his shoulder the size of Yosemite’s Dome of the Rock

Regardless, he fought and fought to hang on even though his sergeant and direct supervisor seemed to have it out for him. Yeah, there was a tension between the two of them that seemed ready to explode at any given moment. In fact, the moment I am referring to in the title of this post was it.

Both men were trained in martial arts and decided to settle their mutual loathing with a fight until one could not get up.

If you like ‘Ultimate Fighting’ it was a pretty good battle. However, the sergeant was the victor and fully expected the young cadet to quit after the bloody beating.

He was sadly mistaken. So, in anger, he kept berating his cadet and verbally pushing him, hoping to hear those two words he’d longed for that would spell the end of having to lay eyes on the misfit cadet.

Those word?

“I quit.”

“Why don’t you just leave?! You aren’t cut out for this. We don’t want you here. You don’t fit. What else do you have to see to get it through your thick skull?! Why don’t you just quit?!!!”

Then there was silence as, once again, the sergeant gave the recruit an opportunity to bow out with what little dignity he had left.

Two words…”I quit.”

He never heard them. Instead, through a blood filled mouth and split lip the cadet uttered these words,

“I got nowhere else to go.”

Not the two words the sergeant wanted to hear, but six words that melted that hardened officer’s heart and resolve in an instant. He’s never seen anyone else fight so hard against such steep odds. In a moment, he went from, ‘this guy is not officer material’ to ‘this guy is exactly the kind of leader this world needs!’

 

And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Nice story, huh? But it’s just a story. However, in real life there was a godly leader who seemed to realize this same lesson very early on in life.

 

I’m talking about King David. As you read the story of David in the Old Testament and read his own words and prayers throughout the Psalms, you see clearly a man who followed God, not only because He loved God, but also because he realized that when it came to the words of eternal life and things that matter most.

 

He had nowhere else to go.

 

The difference between David and the cadet was that David almost always seemed to realize this valuable truth on the front end of adversity rather than in hind sight like most of us. We see this in passages such as Psalm 70:1–5,

 

¹Save me, LORD God!

   Hurry and help.

    ²Disappoint and confuse

   all who want to kill me.

   Turn away and disgrace

   all who want to hurt me.

    ³Embarrass and shame those

   who say, “We told you so!”

    ⁴Let your worshipers celebrate

   and be glad because of you.

   They love your saving power,

   so let them always say,

   “God is wonderful!”

    ⁵I am poor and needy,

   but you, the LORD God,

   care about me.

   You are the one who saves me.

   Please hurry and help!

 David does not try to deal with this in his own strength until all other options are exhausted, he comes to God first and last. He truly believed he had nowhere else to go.

One other quick example of a group who learned this precious truth early enough to do great things for God

John 6:67–69

 ^66-67After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”

 ^68-69Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”

 Translation? When it comes to what really matters most—love, mercy, forgiveness and matters of eternity. You alone, Jesus, are the answer. I’ll stay with you. Besides, I got no where else to go!