Capture the Flag

Welcome to unseen today.  Well, the holidays have arrived. Holidays are great, but let's be honest. For those of us who live Unseen they can also be really difficult. Whether you are a caregiver or a person with disabilities, your holiday probably doesn't look like Norman Rockwell. (Of course as my child reminded me, none of the people in the Norman Rockwell picture were actually related.) There is plenty of grief, guilt, resentment, loneliness and embarrassment. People asked me how my holiday went and I put on my happy face and said "Great." when I really spent a lot of my time off  crying. Read on for a place I learned to get help.

Capture the Flag

Put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and having done all to stand. Ephesians 6:13

Have you ever played the old game of Capture the Flag? You need two teams of 10 to 20 people, two flags and several hundred little bags of flour. The bags are made of napkin or paper towel so that they break easily when they hit something. The goal is to capture the other team´s flag. Team members try to advance toward the flag while keeping under protective cover. If they are spotted, the opposing team members pelt them with bags of flour. Once you are hit with flour you are dead and can no0 longer play. The first team to capture the rival flag wins. It is a great game for team building skills such as cooperation and strategy.

Personally I was never very good at the game. I am not fast and can´t think more than 3 moves ahead in a process. I was always one of the first to be killed off. The minute I popped my head up I was pelted with flour from every direction.

Sometimes my Christian life feels like that too. I start to make progress and BAM! Here comes a bag of trials. It is easy to get blindsided by a trial from a direction I don´t expect like an issue I thought I had dealt with. The last few weeks I have been bombarded with trials of illness, financial stress, strife and struggles with boundaries. However as a Christian I realize that I have a resource I never had in capture the flag. Ephesians 6 tells us this. 

   Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand        your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

I am still going to be pelted by problems, but I have hope. Jesus said in John 16:33, "In this world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." I may be hit with difficulties but I am not going to be Out, because I have the protection I need if I learn to use it. Practice with your weapons this week and put on your armor.