Battles & Beans

Julie has had a busy day of running around all over town. So, I am writing today's post. Most of you will be grateful that I am not the main blog writer. I've been think a lot about preparing for battle. I just finished reading one of Kaleb's books called "A Long Way Home." It is the second book in a series about a boy that is wrongly accused of murder. Somehow he is taken prisoner by terrorists. How he has been taken by terrorists is part of the mystery that has not been revealed yet. So, he spends his time on the run from these terrorists while also trying to prove his innocence. There are several encounters with the terrorists where he has to fight them. The years of martial arts training that he has had comes in useful. He studied hard at the feet of a martial arts master. That's where my preparing for battle thoughts started from. He spent years mastering the martial arts so, when he was in a dangerous situation he knew exactly what to do.

I've been noticing the opposite in my life. I have not been spending enough time preparing for battle. Instead, I end up in the situation where I am praying for help in hard times. How much better would difficult situations or temptation be if I had spent more time studying at the foot of THE master? Getting to know his thoughts and his voice.

I'm reminded of a Native American story I heard years ago. Most of the story has faded from my memory, but the main idea dealt with two dogs that were fighting. A boy asked, "How do you know which dog will win?" The man replied, "whichever one I feed more." If I spend more time "feeding" on the world's junk, that dog will easily win.

As Julie posted last week, we felt so gross after eating the junk food on Ben's birthday. Eating the bean's, rice and potato combinations hasn't always been the most exciting of flavors, but they have sustained us well. One day of junk food and we really felt it. I may be over spiritualizing this, but I feel that God is showing me something during this process. I need to feed the right dog. I need to be feeding on the food that is going to give me strength and sustain me for when the hard times come. Am I making sense?

With that said, I couldn't post without a little humor. So, enjoy this video.