I was in kindergarten. I remember this because it was the first year I was in school with all of the “big kids” at the elementary I attended. If you know me very well, you know that I am very much a peacemaker. I don’t jump into conflict, but if I needed to fight for my family I could unleash my powers for good. In every other situation, however, I am known as a gentle and even-headed human being. When I was a child, however, things were a little different. My brother and I grew up down south and fighting was often a way we greeted our friends. In other situations, it was a result of general horseplay that may have gone too far.
I had a temper when I was in elementary school. I was small for my age and I was picked on frequently, so that helped me develop an anger that could be accessed quickly. I was known for throwing some punches at kids who tried to give me a “wedgie” or even at those picking on someone else. I won’t go into detail about why that bothered me, because that will be for another blog post; but it did. My brother, knowing that I was idiotically fearless would stage fights on the playground, asking larger kids to challenge me to a dual.
Little did these kids know that they were about to battle with a champion…
One morning, I was dropped off to go to school. It was really no different than any other day. This 4th grader (who looked like he had been held back a couple of years) was bullying some kids before school, and it was only a matter of time before I was on his radar. He was about 12 feet tall and had a mullet that wasn’t even fashionable in 1989. You could see the meanness in his eyes, and that day he was on a warpath. After pushing a kid down I happened to be in the area and he pushed me. I stood up to him, and he start throwing punches immediately. The Hulk in me came out but I couldn’t land many jabs with my wingspan and without a ladder. So, he knocked me down.
One thing you should know about me is that, when it was library day at school, I only checked out two types of books. The first type of book was anything dealing with learning more about animals, and the second were martial arts instruction books. Naturally, I was an expert in many fighting techniques because of this interest.
So, here was this mulleted giant of a human being, about to serve me my first defeat. I realized that the only way I was going to take him out was if I aimed low (don’t worry, this is not ending the way you think it is, so you are safe to keep reading). He threw a punch and I ducked, and swept my foot around to take his legs out from under him. He fell and the earth quaked. I was victorious. When he fell, though, he hit his head on a bench and cried. My heroism triggered a round of applause. Wouldn’t you know that this was the exact moment that Mrs. Mason (the school principal) walked up to witness Goliath being slain? He immediately pointed at me and the story he told sounded a little different than the one I experienced. Luckily, I only got a warning with a finger in my face. Other kids who were bullied by him had spoken the truth, and stood up for me. If it were up to the large boy, however, I would have been tried, convicted, and sentenced.
We are seeing these same type of attacks daily by the enemy who hates our soul. Satan, prowls around looking for trouble to stir up, and when things get out of hand the author of lies can point the finger at the body of Christ as the sole source of blame. He tries to distract us from the truth. It is difficult for the world to believe that God is good when they look at the world and see such turmoil. Their focus is misplaced, however, because we know, as Christ-followers, that every human being has free will and God has sent an answer for suffering if we will only accept it an embrace transformation. So, the enemy will stir up trouble only to point the finger at God when things don’t seem right.
As Christians, we are at war with principalities of the dark. To fight this, we are called to take up arms in the form of love, grace, and mercy. Our goliath could be our self-perception, our doubt, or even our need for growth. Get angry, and fight.
Love you all.
This post was written by Rev Landon DeCrastos. You can find his blog here: https://other-words.net
I had a temper when I was in elementary school. I was small for my age and I was picked on frequently, so that helped me develop an anger that could be accessed quickly. I was known for throwing some punches at kids who tried to give me a “wedgie” or even at those picking on someone else. I won’t go into detail about why that bothered me, because that will be for another blog post; but it did. My brother, knowing that I was idiotically fearless would stage fights on the playground, asking larger kids to challenge me to a dual.
Little did these kids know that they were about to battle with a champion…
One morning, I was dropped off to go to school. It was really no different than any other day. This 4th grader (who looked like he had been held back a couple of years) was bullying some kids before school, and it was only a matter of time before I was on his radar. He was about 12 feet tall and had a mullet that wasn’t even fashionable in 1989. You could see the meanness in his eyes, and that day he was on a warpath. After pushing a kid down I happened to be in the area and he pushed me. I stood up to him, and he start throwing punches immediately. The Hulk in me came out but I couldn’t land many jabs with my wingspan and without a ladder. So, he knocked me down.
One thing you should know about me is that, when it was library day at school, I only checked out two types of books. The first type of book was anything dealing with learning more about animals, and the second were martial arts instruction books. Naturally, I was an expert in many fighting techniques because of this interest.
So, here was this mulleted giant of a human being, about to serve me my first defeat. I realized that the only way I was going to take him out was if I aimed low (don’t worry, this is not ending the way you think it is, so you are safe to keep reading). He threw a punch and I ducked, and swept my foot around to take his legs out from under him. He fell and the earth quaked. I was victorious. When he fell, though, he hit his head on a bench and cried. My heroism triggered a round of applause. Wouldn’t you know that this was the exact moment that Mrs. Mason (the school principal) walked up to witness Goliath being slain? He immediately pointed at me and the story he told sounded a little different than the one I experienced. Luckily, I only got a warning with a finger in my face. Other kids who were bullied by him had spoken the truth, and stood up for me. If it were up to the large boy, however, I would have been tried, convicted, and sentenced.
We are seeing these same type of attacks daily by the enemy who hates our soul. Satan, prowls around looking for trouble to stir up, and when things get out of hand the author of lies can point the finger at the body of Christ as the sole source of blame. He tries to distract us from the truth. It is difficult for the world to believe that God is good when they look at the world and see such turmoil. Their focus is misplaced, however, because we know, as Christ-followers, that every human being has free will and God has sent an answer for suffering if we will only accept it an embrace transformation. So, the enemy will stir up trouble only to point the finger at God when things don’t seem right.
As Christians, we are at war with principalities of the dark. To fight this, we are called to take up arms in the form of love, grace, and mercy. Our goliath could be our self-perception, our doubt, or even our need for growth. Get angry, and fight.
Love you all.
This post was written by Rev Landon DeCrastos. You can find his blog here: https://other-words.net
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