The Hurt Locker – Part 3

Over the past few weeks we have looked into the issue of emotional health and how it is weaved into the Gospel message. We continue today in Part 3 of our series called “The Hurt Locker” as we discuss how to detect and disarm emotional IEDs in our lives.

The term IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) was new to me. These devices gained prominence and notoriety as the war in Iraq was waged. So much so that an Academy Award winning Best Picture movie, ‘The Hurt Locker’ was made. Jeremy Renner, the lead actor, portrays a Sergeant who leads an Explosive Ordinance Unit in the Iraq War. The unit is tasked with detecting and defusing IEDs.

A specialized unit was required to handle this task because IEDs are meant to be hidden until the point of contact. Just as the name of the device implies, not every device is the same, they are created and delivered in whichever manner will produce the desired outcome. So IEDs can be delivered in anything; from being buried under some dirt to the inside of a car, or even to being surgically implanted in animals or humans. Just as those explosives have different delivery systems, our lives are eerily similar when it comes to our emotional IEDs. Marriage, friendships, parenting, profession, church, relationships of all kinds can all be the cloak being used by our emotional IEDs. They are meant to blend in with their surroundings but when the fuse is lit, the detonator is pushed, or the switch is activated and the device blows up, it destroys everything on site.

Just as the Explosive Ordinance Unit had to go through strict training to learn to detect and disarm IEDs, we must also be proactive in our learning and training in order to deal with the emotional IEDs in our lives. These emotional IEDs are hidden in unseen places of our lives and mind just as regular IEDs are hidden from plain view and threaten to destroy everything that comes in contact with them.

The first step in this process is learning how to detect the IEDs. There are a few simple questions that will help to begin the hiding places of your IEDs. Ask yourself:
What is my greatest fear?
What is my greatest hope?
What is my greatest disappointment?
What has been my greatest failure?

Under these questions, many times you will find the things that are the trigger to your IEDs. Just as any good member of an Explosive Ordinance Unit knows, the key from stopping an IED from exploding is to remove the trigger.