Rocky

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." - 1Timothy 6:12

There is a pattern to life; peaks and valleys. We have songs and poems that tell us of this pattern. We have books and movies too. The tendency for most of us is to duck in the valleys and stand tall on the peaks and, as such, we miss most of the scenery. There is a type of blindness to both places. At the summit everything below you is too small to really see and when you are hiding your head in the valley you can't see anything at all. On the peaks of life we can lose perspective and in the valleys we can lose hope.

I know I am dating myself a bit here but one of the reasons why I loved the movie Rocky was that he got it. He really did. He was just as happy drinking raw eggs and training until he collapsed as he was in the ring, advancing like a wounded bull at Apollo Creed in glorious combat. It wasn't that Rocky wouldn't go down, it's that he already had been down. It was a place he knew and was not afraid of anymore. So he kept advancing, taking shot after shot and giving in return. It wasn't the crowd or even Adrian, there in the front row, that kept him going. It was his heart.

Remember that the air is thin on the peaks. You can get dizzy and start seeing things that aren't really there. The same is true in the valleys, where it gets awful dark and the shadows can be misleading. None of it is important. Not a bit. Enjoy life, yes, but don't forget that you weren't created solely for this Earth, this place that is all peaks and valleys. If you were then you'd never be leaving it.

But someday, you will. There must be a reason for that. So keep your gloves up, stay true to your heart and remember that above all peaks and above all valleys there is a very big sky.

An Army of Sum

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." - Ecclesiastes 4:9

One of the greatest lies ever told by the evil in this universe is that you are alone.

Part of the human experience is that first moment of self-actualization when you realize you are a being unto yourself, with a mind and thoughts all your own. At some point shortly thereafter you realize that it can get lonely in your head. No one knows you like you, and there is an inherent risk in reaching out to others, who may accept you or - just as easily - may flat out reject you.

I'm not talking about matters of love. The heart is a subject worthy of its own blog. I'm specifically focused today on our minds. After all, scripture tells us that this is the place where all the wars for your soul are fought. Who in their right mind (no pun intended) would fight a war alone? Especially against an adversary that has been taking out souls left and right for thousands of years.

When Jesus came to this earth what's one of the first things he did? He recruited the twelve disciples. Did Jesus, as God himself, need the twelve? Of course not. But like almost everything else in his short ministry he was teaching us how we should approach life. The lesson was clear: you need your own posse, as it were. You should not go it alone. The only time we find Jesus truly alone in the Bible, who was there, almost immediately? Satan. This, too, is a lesson. If evil was unafraid to come after Jesus how much bolder will it be to come after you?

Look around you, though. How many people has God placed in your life to keep you going on this journey? You are not alone. In your neighborhood, in your family, and amongst your friends are allies in faith who can come to your side. This is also why it's so important to go to church and to be a part of a small group, as this can only multiply those people in your life who can help to keep you grounded in hope and lifted in perseverance. 

How many allies do you need? It doesn't matter. You simply need an army of sum. So get out of your head and away from your fear of rejection. Gather your own little army to help in the challenges you will face in life, face in time and face in faith.