Stronger

"Why do we fall down, Bruce? - So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again."

(From Batman Begins)

Bruce Wayne, a young boy of perhaps nine or ten years of age, has just experienced the greatest trauma of his brief life: the shock of unexpectedly falling fifty feet into an abandoned well, the searing pain of breaking the bones in his leg, and the nightmarish horror of finding himself alone in the dark as the air around him fills with a rising tornado of fluttering wings, his small helpless frame bombarded by a swarm of angry creatures of the night. Yes, just about every boy's nightmare.

But moments later, just when his pre-teen world has reached its darkest hour, suddenly there is rescue. Salvation. Something larger than the bats and stronger than the fear reaches down and lifts him out of the darkness.

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It is his father.

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Caught up suddenly out of impending doom into the strong, safe protection of his father's arm, little Bruce is carried back into the light. And though there are broken bones to be set, his father isn't going to be sidetracked by the obvious physical pain his son finds himself in - instead he goes straight to the core of the matter, straight to Bruce's heart. He steps in to deflect the "arrows" (The Sacred Romance, Eldredge and Curtis) of the Enemy away from the young boy's fragile heart; he steps in with wisdom and grace to turn a potentially debilitatingly negative experience into...a training exercise.

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"Why do we fall down, Bruce? -- So we can learn to pick ourselves back up again."

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Calamity averted. Hope restored. The heart strengthened. Courage regained. And the Enemy beaten at his own game. All because Bruce's father had a certain point-of-view, a paradigm of life, that made the explanation for what had befallen his unsuspecting son both quick and instinctive.

And, of course, because he didn't just think about the world in a certain way: he also had the courage and the determination to be willing to offer his perspective and the healing words that flowed from it, just at the moment they were most needed.

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Oh to have a Father like that!

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Or a brother...or a friend...anyone really.

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For many of you, 2010 was a year that could best be typified by "falling down". A year ago we wrote: "Dark and ominous things will happen in 2010. The hunt to destroy your heart and soul is only going to intensify..."

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And it did.

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But this is exactly why learning to walk The Warrior's Path is so crucial. Dark times will come, and what are we to do with them when they do? In Walking With God, John Eldredge, commenting on the horse riding accident that put both his arms in casts and re-arranged an entire season of his life, said these four golden words:

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"Don't waste your pain."

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When we are trolling through life with the mindset of a "civilian" - where living a happy little life and avoiding pain is our primary goal - then the dark times, the failures, the stumbles, the 'falling down' strike us as senseless, confusing, and disheartening. After falling down countless times, we are tempted to throw in the towel and find an easier path. "Someone is trying to tell me something," we sigh, and succumb.

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Yes, someone is trying to tell you something. But it isn't what you think. Because the Voices speaking to you aren't beginning from the basic assumption that life on this planet is all about the avoidance of pain. No. The Voices speaking to you both know that you have been born into a world that is at war. The Evil Power wants to destroy you. The Good Power (God) wants to train you, grow you up, prepare you for battle. The Good Power isn't usually behind the dark times, but He is in them, hoping that we will see them as opportunities to pick ourselves back up again.

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Welcome to 2011. Welcome to the New Year. Christmas, the season of Hope, now gives way to the season of new beginnings, fresh starts and clean slates. No matter what sort of blows we received in 2010, no matter how many times we 'fell down', no matter how scary the nightmare we may have been asked to walk through, now is the time to pick ourselves back up again.

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According to the Bible, God isn't interested in congratulating survivors...

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...He wants to celebrate overcomers. (see Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; Rev. 3:5, 12, 21)

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"Why do we fall down, Bruce? - So that we can learn to pick ourselves back up again."

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Cast off the civilian mindset for 2011. Join us along the Warrior's Path and discover what a difference it makes to have the heart of a warrior. Dust off the disappointments of 2010, pick yourself up by the grace of God, and press on.

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And listen closely, because you do have a Father like Bruce Wayne's, and he is able to speak the words of encouragement that you need to hear.

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Stronger,

Derrick and David

image credit: Jon Contino

Against All Hope

"There is no worse death than the loss of hope."

(King Arthur, 2004)

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Don't we all know the truth of it? Haven't we all, in our own fashion, through the weary twists and turns of the preceding scenes and chapters of our lives faced even such a death as this - the agonizing despair that is by definition the loss of Hope? Don't we all know what it feels like to crawl numbly out of bed with bleary eyes into a grey existence, plodding dutifully forward into a foreseable future that contains not even one small shred of anticipation that some change, some good, awaits in the Road that lies ahead of us? Trapped in a life we haven't chosen? Like Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life": stuck running his father's small-time business and loan in out-of-the-way Bedford Falls, year by year watching all hope fade for the great and wonderful dreams of what his life was going to be like? Or like Tom Hanks in "Joe vs. the Volcano": the quintessential film depiction of living in a dead-end career and a life marked by complete and utter hopelessness!

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"There is no worse death than the loss of hope".

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When we lose hope, we truly become the living dead. Our bodies are still going through the motions...but our hearts have stopped beating. The soul within the man has ceased to breath the vital atmosphere upon which it must feed if it is to survive the disappointments and heartbreaks of these Shadowlands. Hope is the oxygen of the soul. Hope is the reminder that the best is yet to come. The Bible refers to Hope as one of the Last Three Things, after all else has been burned away: "And now these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love..."

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By God's figuring, Hope is pretty central to human existence. Notice He didn't say, "And now these three remain: morality, a good education, and the Protestant work-ethic." Or worse still, "And now these three remain: a good job, a big house, and a wisely invested retirement plan."

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Faith. Hope. Love. The things that make life...well, truly Life.

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Funny how something supposedly so essential, so vital, to our heart's journey, can, for all practical purposes, be something most of us are living without. We've all heard plenty about the vital importance of keeping our "love tank" on "full". So how about our Hope "chest"? Have you even thought about Hope lately? Or remotely begun to admit all the different ways in which you have lost Hope and fallen into resignation and despair? Did you wake up one morning to discover you had chosen the wrong career? Or the wrong spouse? Or the wrong life? Did you realize with a sense of inescapable doom and iron-clad finality that your commitments, your mortgage, or even your own addictions had you pinned down in a place from which there could be no freedom? Is there a person in your life inextricably intertwined into your journey who is methodically destroying your joy, your love for life, your very heart...and you no longer believe that that person could ever change? Is that person you?

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This, my friends, is a life without hope. This will never change. Tomorrow and next week and next month and next year are just going to be a repeat of all the disappointment, pain, confusion, and heartache that I am experiencing today.

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"A thrill of Hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!"

("O Holy Night")
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A thrill of Hope...

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What would that do for your life right about now?

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The message of Christmas comes to us as, first and foremost, a message of Hope. Not of culmination. Just Hope. The King of Kings hasn't ascended his throne...but he's here. The long slow process of Man's redemption is underway at last. It isn't here yet. That is the story to be told at Easter. Now it is only Christmas. Now it is only the beginning, the bright dawn of a new and glorious morning. It isn't here yet...

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...But it is coming.

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What if you could believe that again - about every dark and broken place in your story? The tempest and the storm and the clouds aren't the final word after all: the sun will shine again. What if you could believe that? I mean, could really grasp a hold of it, really feel it and know it with all your heart?

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It is coming.

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The thrill of Hope, indeed.

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John Eldredge quotes Dallas Williard in one of the most essential statements you will ever draw deep into your heart and own for yourself in all its power: Things can be different; and you have a role in making them so."

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"Remember Your word to Your servant;

You have given me Hope through it"

(Psalm 119:49)

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Things can be different.

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It is coming.

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Believe it, and drink deep the fresh air of Hope once again, my friends.

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For the Kingdom,

Derrick and David

A Mighty Gift

(For those of you who have only begun walking the Warrior's Path in recent months, we have reposted last year's retelling of "Christmas on the Warrior's Path". It marks the beginning of a new season for the Warrior's Path blog, where you can expect to find a more consistent stream of encouraging and challenging posts.)

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“Enemy occupied territory – that’s what this world is.” -C.S. Lewis

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Somewhere, flung across the vast reaches of deep heaven, a lone planet lies spellbound in the iron grip a cruel Enchanter. Enraged at the Emperor who rules this star system, this Enchanter, this Dark Lord, has fallen with malice upon the Emperor's beloved garden-planet, bent on destroying every last thing the Emperor once cherished. The Evil One succeeds – beyond even his own expectations, for the inhabitants of the Emperor’s garden-planet are more easily swayed than any other Race of Beings he has ever known. Longing for knowledge, desiring Power above all things, these pawns of his vengeance fall under the spell of the Dark Lord’s whispered promises and foolishly take sides in his Rebellion against the Emperor. But their new Master proves false: he hates these frail creatures with the same seething fury that burns in him for their Father, the Emperor, (for they once held within their reach the glory of becoming the heirs of all His Empire) and in joining him they do not find freedom, but bondage, and a Curse.

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In sorrow words cannot describe, the Emperor removes His hand from the garden, choosing to respect His children’s choice to reject Him...choosing to let them bear the inevitable consequences of having listened to the lies of His Enemy. From this point forward, His purpose must be veiled. Love, the heat and light and power that made the garden-planet, is shrouded by the mist of legend. The Deep Truths of foundations and beginnings and owed allegiences are forgotten, or hidden by black craft of cruel enchantment. The world is broken, its glory dimmed. Death reigns. Darkness has fallen. One by one the free kingdoms of the world are consumed by fire and sword, or sold into slavery to the new Ruler of the fates of Men.

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Hope is all but lost.

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And then…

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Somewhere in the East of the World a rumor grows, a rumor full of hope unlooked-for, and aid from beyond the heavens in the midst of our darkest hour. Most take the rumor for just one more sweet dream of a people straining to be free from a life of cruel bondage. Others have dreamt similar dreams in the past – they are the sweet myths of the ancient world, dreams of a Good Power that will arise to contest the Evil and prove the stronger of the Two; dreams that all will be forgiven, love with reign once again, the garden restored, the Dark Lord banished to an everlasting doom. It is an old dream.

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But this time…this time it is different. This time the rumors are true. A young woman bears a child, and it is claimed that the child is of no earthly father. Some say he is a messenger from beyond the circle of this world. Others say he is the True King, the foretold Dragon Slayer, born for the single purpose of rescuing the garden-planet and its people from the tyranny of the Dark Lord. All agree that he signals the beginning of an invasion – the first note in a swelling symphony of salvation: The Emperor has not forsaken his children after all.

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No ‘Silent Night’ this, no peaceful slumber covers the countryside like a pristine blanket of new-fallen snow. The Emperor’s trusted servants, bright heavenly warriors wreathed in holy fire, wearing glittering helms studded with the precious gems they have earned in ancient wars before the founding of the world, walk the streets of Bethlehem disguised as lowly shepherds: their glory dimmed, their power hidden, their majesty cloaked. And despite the seemingly pastoral scene, a flaming sword stands guard on every hill top, and every bridge and narrow pass is bravely held against the gathering assault from the minions of the Dark Lord who also have heard rumors of the Return of the King. The Dragon will unleash all Hell to see the child destroyed, for if he grows to manhood, he will become more powerful than the Enemy could ever imagine.

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But even after thousands of years of holding the master over this rebel outpost, the Darkness is powerless to defeat the coming dawn.

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A star blazes low on the western horizon in flaming glory. "A light in the Darkness when all other lights have gone out". The True King has landed. Hope, against hope, is kindled once again.

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Welcome to Christmas along The Warrior's Path. May you never see it the same again.

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“I return to you now, at the turning of the tide. The storm is coming; but the tide has turned.”
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Derrick and David

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