I’m sure many of you out there are familiar with the epic saga of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and how easy it is to get caught up in these grand sweeping adventures, almost wishing that you could live and survive such a tale. But how many of us realize that we are already caught up in our own grand odyssey? That there is a spiritual realm beyond our sight and physical perception that is playing itself out every day. It was during such a thought that I penned the following:

They come mostly in the darkest hours of the night, a wave of thoughts and emotions, doubts and fears, sometimes by the tens, sometimes by the hundreds and thousands.  Like an army of invaders constantly probing my defenses and harassing me all night long.  What are these destructive thoughts, like so many shadowy creatures from some late night horror show?   So bent on my destruction, spewing their venom through the lines of my defenses, getting into my head without ever being seen?

On one hand, they promise freedom and all kinds of pleasure to those of us who will turn and betray our commander, on the other hand they condemn us for having already failed the King.  Will I fall?  Will I too be a casualty of this war, the greatest of all wars? 

Many have already succumb to the propaganda, the constant dripping of lies and have wearily slipped outside the camp to never again be seen, but there is a remnant of us who hang on.  Watching and waiting for the dawn and the arrival of our King.

He is the one who will make this last desperate battle worth fighting, but sometimes I too forget, and like a mesmerized insect, drift helplessly toward the glowing bug zapper, the trappings of this world. 

Will I make it through the night?   Will I betray my King?  No..!  I know better, I grew up in their camp.  Their promises are empty and their freedom is shallow and hollow, slavery in disguise and void of substance. 

My King’s promises pull me back!  His words echo in my thoughts, though softer, and gentler than the shadow creatures just outside the wire.  His words bring peace to my soul in this time of great war.     

He reminds me still, whispering my name.  “I will never leave you, never forsake you.”  And “..stand firm.  Let nothing move you…your labor for the King is not in vain.”  In His words I am strengthened, more resolute.  I am renewed and my peace returns, once again trusting and waiting for his arrival.  My vision becomes clearer, locked on future glory and not the present longings of my flesh.

As I weather this latest attack and shore up my defenses, I am reminded of a film which also inspires me to not only hang on, but to take the fight to the enemy as well.  Surely it was an inspired moment for the writer as we see this great commander come out onto the field of battle to address his troops against a numerically superior army.  It goes like this:

“What will you do?  Will you fight?” He spoke with great authority and confidence.  “No, we will run and we will live,” came the reply from a frightened soldier. 

“You’re right, you may run, and you may live, but what will you do, lying in your beds, so many years from now?  Would you be willing, to take all the years from this day to that, for one chance.., one chance to come back here and tell our enemies, you may take our lives, but you’ll never take our freedom!” 

And so it was conceived and penned from the writer, the words imagined to have been spoken by William Wallace in the film Braveheart.  Surely this moment of inspirational thought captured the essence of scripture in our own spiritual struggles. 

What has always amazed me about the Lord Jesus is the miracle that we can constantly be at war in this world, and yet in the midst of it all, still know the peace that surpasses all human understanding. 

One day perhaps, we who trusted our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will all sit around a great hall and share the stories of how we were once sojourners and soldiers.  How we not only survived the great war, but were more than conquerors!