Giants...

        I know I know, it has been f o r e v e r since I have updated. Life has been a bit overwhelming and so my thoughts haven't been really straight to blog. I have opened this page up many times, began to write, and then... nothing. I am sure many know this feeling: so much emotion, thought, and activity that you don't even know what to say... that equals my life over the past several months it seems. I am longing for simplicity. But I guess we aren't always promised that in this thing called life. And I guess that's alright. Don't really have a choice do we?! :)
     
        Question, when you seem to be in the middle of a "storm" in your life, how do you handle it? Do you go against it face on? Do you let it blow you this way and that? Do you hide from it, hoping it will pass? I have probably done all of these things, all the while wondering, searching, and hoping that God will teach me (and quickly...Ha!) what it is He wants me to learn. Through reading and searching, there is one story that keeps coming to mind... One that I have read over and over.

         David started out as a shepherd, he was a poet, a king and an ancestor of Jesus. When you read about him, you can get a real sence of what it really means to worship. He wasn't perfect, He committed adultry, disobeyed God, and arranged a murder, but he was a man described by God himself as a man after his own heart. He weathered storms...

        Of course the most heard story of David includes Goliath. Goliath, the giant with attitude. He dressed of bronze and strutted his stuff challenging those around him to fight, one on one. For 40 days he did this. Although he was big, and he had all the "gear" He was missing one of the greatest strengths... God.

       When David told the king that he wanted to fight Goliath, the king tried to dress David in similar armor, but David was uncomfortable. He took them off and picked up 5 smooth stones. He was armed only with his shepard staff and a sling, and he went to fight the giant. Of course the giant basically laughed at the sight of him. I love what David says in defense :"You [Goliath] come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord..." (1 Sam. 17:45)

       "As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stome, he hurled it with his sling and hit the philistine [Goliath] in the forehead. The stone sank in and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground." (1Sam. 17:48&49)

       David was a shepherd. A regular sized man. Facing a giant. With a sling and a stone. And with God's help, he defeated a giant. When others looked at Goliath, they saw an opponent too powerful to deafeat: when David looked at Goliath, he saw a target too big to miss!

       When I face a giant-like storm, I confess, I see it as something too powerful to defeat. I feel weak, illequipped, and lost. But slowly, (I'm a bit of a slow learner :) ) I am learning that I have exactly what it takes to rage against the storms. God gives me all the tools/weapons I need to face the giants in my life. (Ephesians 6:10-18) And I need to be like more like David, and "quickly run" out to meet it, so that God can be glorified!

        What is your Goliath? Do you look ahead at something too big to conquer or something too big to miss? In Romans 8:31 it says, "if God is for us, who can ever be against us?" Face giants knowing that God is for you.