One Step at a Time--The Josh Bleill Story

Recently my friend Lynn Bradley and I attended a fellowship event at Northside Christian Church, New Albany, Indiana entitled “Cabin Fever Jamboree”. It was billed as a wild game tasting event and meal along with a guest speaker Mr. Josh Bleill from the Indianapolis Colts. Being a life-long Green Bay Packers fan I of course wore my favorite colors green and gold. The game food was excellent: deer, buffalo, elk, dolphin, gator etc. and the portions were huge, the speaker superb!



Mr Bleill is a young man from Indianapolis who was working for Conseco Insurance Company in Indianapolis as a recruiter when the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001. Those events had a tremendous impact on him and seeing as his father served our country as a United States Marine, Josh decided to fellow in his father’s footsteps.  While on combat patrol in Fallujah, Iraq on October 15, 2006 Josh and four of his comrads where driving their Humvee through an Iraq roadside market, his friend sitting next to him was pointing to the sheep being slaughtered in the marketplace. They turned off the road and into the median of the highway to travel the opposite direction when suddening an IED (bomb) exploded killing Josh’s Sergeant and a Lance Corporal. The blast blew their gunner clear out of the vehicle and he lost a leg, the driver survived without a scratch, but Josh Bleill woke up five days later to the realization that not only did he lose two of his comrads but also both of his legs.



As one can imagine the realization and recovery from such an experience was very painful physically, mentally and spiritually. For three and one half months Josh never left the hospital because he was ashamed of how he looked. Josh was a big man six feet two inches before the accident but now with both his legs removed he was four feet nothing. He struggled to come to grips with what had happened to him on that highway in Fallujah, Iraq. Hadn’t God called him to serve his country as his father did before him after September 11^th? How could he serve the Lord now in this condition much less make a life for himself with not one but two legs gone? Josh was always a big hunter and enjoyed the marksmanship required of a military man. He was a confident man not willing to back down from any type of challenge, but how could he face this? He couldn’t even stand to face the stares of the people he meet in the hospital let alone those outside of the facility who would instantly notice that he was now much less a man than he once was.



As God would have it Josh’s hometown team, the Indianapolis Colts were playing the Chicago Bears that year in the Super Bowl. Josh was invited to see the game and this time his love for his “Colts” overcame his fear of people looking at him in public. Later while recovering from his wounds in Walter Reed Military Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland some of the Indianapolis Colts came to call on the wounded there. Josh got to talk with some of the players and hear their triumphant stories about winning the Super Bowl and the Colts got to hear about Josh’s trial in Iraq and comeback battle with prosthetic legs. During this visit, Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts learned that Josh was from Indianapolis and went to visit him. While their Mr. Irsay learned that both he and Josh used to attend the same gym in Carmel, Indiana, he told Josh to “Come see me about a job when you get home”.


Two years later after intensive rehabilitation where Josh was first given two stumps to practice walking on Josh recovered from his injuries in Iraq and went home to Indianapolis. After visiting some of his old Indy buddies he went off to see Jim Irsay to ask about a job with the Indianapolis Colts. Today Josh is a community spokesmen for the Colts, does numerous personal appearance like the one Lynn and I attended at Northside Church, is the author of a book One Step at a Time: a Young Marine’s Story of Courage, Hope and a New Life in the NFL (Triumph Books, 2010).
 

You can learn more about Josh by going to
http://www.colts.com/fanzone/josh-bliel-one-step-at-a-time.html
or view him below and on Youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqmqGUjWhzg.


Now most of us thankfully didn’t have to overcome such a tremendous challenge as Josh did, but we all have crosses to bear in our lives, what was one of yours? Would you be willing to share it with me and my readers? If so, please let me hear from you. If you don’t wish to share your story but would like to send along a comment please do. Thanks again for reading and until next time “Keep the Faith”, Jer