Wait not for the Dawn

"At that moment a shadow fell over them. The bright moonlight seemed to be suddenly cut off. Several of the Riders cried out, and crouched, holding their arms above their heads, as if to ward off a blow from above: a blind fear and a deadly cold fell on them. Cowering, they looked up. A vast winged shaped passed over the moon like a black cloud. It wheeled and went north, flying at a speed greater than any wind of Middle-Earth. The stars fainted before it. It was gone.


. They stood up, rigid as stones. Gandalf was gazing up, his arms out and downwards, stiff, his hands clenched.
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'Nazgul!' he cried. 'The messenger of Mordor. The storm is coming. The Nazgul have crossed the River! Ride! Ride, ride! Wait not for the dawn! Let not the swift wait for the slow! Ride!'

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He sprang away, calling Shadowfax as he ran...slinging the small bag which was all his luggage across his shoulders, the wizard leapt upon the horses back...
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'Farewell! Follow fast!' cried Gandalf. 'Away, Shadowfax!'
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The great horse tossed his head. His flowing tail flicked in the moonlight. Then he leapt forward, spurning the earth, and was gone like the north wind from the mountains."
................................(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers)


"Urgency":

The deep, settled conviction that the centrality of the role God has given us in His redemptive work, and the diabolical counter-movements of the Dark Lord of this fallen World, have combined to create a story-line so epic, so exciting, so fraught with dire immediacy that we must either "ride, ride, ride!" now, today, (perhaps not even "waiting for the dawn"), or miss our cues completely and fall forever into uselessness and oblivion.


The great accusation against which most of the Church has no defense is that our lives do not exhibit anything like this sense of urgency. For the most part we hail from a race of strolling mall-walkers and aimless window shoppers, time-killers and nap-takers, comfort-seekers whose acts of mercy and charity are pre-planned, pre-packaged, and predictable. The world hears us mention a cosmic clash between all the heavenly forces of Good and Evil. They hear us claim the high and holy role that we have been given in deciding the eternal fates of Men...and then they watch us living out our "recreational" faith in our spare time, when and how it suits our particular fancy.


Is it any wonder that we are mocked for our extravagant beliefs?? That we are accused of not really believing what it is that we say we believe?

Valid those these accusations may be, it is not here - in the mockery of the crowd - that we find our motivation for a new way of doing life, a new energy for Kingdom labor, a new passion and zeal and singleminded focus on eternal fates. No. The Warrior's Path has never been about shame and accusation.

It's about the life that you long for.

Because all your long life you have been desperately seeking the purpose for which you were made - the one thing above all other things that will make you come fully alive, fully awake. This is not about what you should do: it's about what you were born to do.

Living with a sense of urgency is not another burden placed upon you by the Church. It is simply awakening from a blinding enchantment and seeing the Real Condition of Things with a clarity you have never known before.

This, brothers and sisters, is the missing "adventure" that you have been seeking. The "zest" to life that you thought had died with adulthood and 'maturity'. Someone asked recently how you are supposed to "find" the life of adventure that we long for when every morning you wake up and there is the crushing weight of the 'daily grind' waiting to pounce on your heart the moment your foot hits the floor?

Urgency.

Urgency that is founded upon an unrelenting focus on What is Really Happening at this point in the Story.

The Enemy does not sleep. And he is on the move. That old friend of yours who has wandered from the faith? That aunt with the deadly cancer? That homeless couple you heard about?

They need you now.

All of you.

Everything you've got.

Like their life depended upon what you do next.

Because it probably does.

"Be very careful then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:16)

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." (Romans 12:11)

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“God give me…a well-guided zeal, a burning love and a single-eye, and then let men or devils do their worst.” (George Whitefield)

Derrick and David