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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

"I'm holding on to a hero..."

So much fighting.  Everywhere.  Tonight's news is in streets, last week it was in villages and that famous one's psyche,  week before that was in the Promised Land.  What is going on?  It hits close to home as I try and catch my breath.

I was in Sunday School when I first heard stories of God's chosen people.  They fought a lot, I remember.  But God was on their side.  Look what happened with only a little boy David.   And hasn't there always been unrest in the Middle East?  I mean,  talk about foreign.   Their customs,  their families,  their dress.  But splitting a 5-year old boy in half?  That's the age of my baby.  I paid money to study the psyche.   I have a frame to prove it, somewhere in storage.   But what about the memories of my own darkness?  I took great pride in my culturally diverse upbringing  from my middle class white point of view.  But what about that dark skinned little boy of mine sleeping down the hall?  How do we explain the fighting to him and his curious siblings?

Oh God,  what do I do with this?  Why is the fighting getting so close to me? I am not strong enough for the enemy this time.

Our dollar rental this weekend was about a soldier who survived the worst odds.  Foreign mountains. Rugged mountains.  Brutal enemies.  I cried as the credits rolled with pictures of brave heroes.  But the real hero was one born from those rugged mountains who risked the life of his son and his entire village to protect this foreigner.  That village is thriving today,  the credits said.

I have heroes.   I like heroes.   The songs that keep me going as my feet hit the pavement are ones about fighting and heroes.   My heroes used to be caped cartoon figures in skirts.  My heroes today are real live figures fighting next to me in skirts.  I listen to her tale of battle that is just like mine.  We laugh and we cry over barbecue.   I hug another one tight because I know where she is going in two weeks.  I have been there and it will change her to her core.  I pray for the one whose family is so similar to mine and I know what she is up against.  She has chosen a path of obedience that no one wants to tread. Adoption.   Birth order.  Obedience.

I hear God answering my questions when I think of my heroes.   They are all around me in the flesh, in my family, in my heart.   God has uplifted me, in the midst of my most current battles, through the women that He has placed in my life.  Yes, God is so good, he specifically answers my prayer through my personal circumstances.   But he also answered it through His word.   That's when I KNOW that He is talking to me, because His word is true.

Just like every good story has a climax, every good battle has a hero and I have the Hero of Heroes on my side.  Yes, just like the little boy David.  My battles are tough, but the battles I've seen on the news are so much tougher.   I still have my 5 year old baby.  I don't live in a country where I have to denounce my faith or fear for my life.  And I have a lot of time to teach my children of different colors about a God who loves and gives grace to everyone. I can teach them about a God that will be their Hero when the fighting gets so bad they can't stand it anymore.  I pray that everyone facing battles (much tougher than mine) will know this truth.  There will always be fighting and there will always be an evil enemy.  But there will also always be a hero.


"Who is this King of glory?  The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle."  Psalm 24:8