Sister Synergy

What's the best way to stand up to a bully?

When we were young the saying was "sticks and stones may break my bones but words would never hurt me" but this isn't really true.

My Dad told me how he dealt with one particular bully when he was little.

He was 9 years old and this 14 year old boy used to pick on him and his friend. It was the usual verbal abuse, threats, intimidation and when necessary, this kid would put the boots to my Dad and his friend.

Then one day the bully came across my dad and his friend together and started in on them again. Something made these little boys decide they weren't going to take it anymore or maybe they decided that together they could take this guy. They fought back together and ended up laying a beating on a kid 5 years older. He never bothered either of them again after that day.

I can remember an episode from my own experience but its not as generous to my vanity.

I was probably about the same age and I was playing at a neighbourhood friend's house. For some reason his older brother started picking on me. So I left but he followed me home. When I got to the back gate that led into my yard I thought I was safe. He had other plans and went to follow me into my yard. This really concerned me because this guy was probably about 17 years old and seemed to wish me ill.

Anyhow, unbeknownst to both of us my sister, who was about the same age as my pursuer was in our backyard and had heard and seen him chase me home.

She walked right up to him and this new threat made him pause in the back alley. He lost the appetite to chase me any further and decided to berate me from the safety of his side of the fence. He got a few words out before she cut him off. From that point on she did all the talking and he did all the listening. I don't remember what was said but I can see her standing in the backyard like it was yesterday and I remember gaining some amount of pleasure from observing the exchange.

I can be a loner. I like to help other people but won't ask for help unless its offered. I tend to fight my battles alone and not ask for prayer. I wonder how effective that is? In the military, soldiers fight in platoons, battalions, regiments, divisions and army corps and at ground level, infantry soldiers usually fight in groups of two or three.

Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

What I find interesting about this scripture is that it repeatedly talks about the synergistic principle of two working together until the sudden mention of three at the end. Is this what Jesus meant when he said “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” - Matthew 18:19-20

Between a rock and a hard place

I was reading my nephew's blog about a young teenage boy subjected to bullying this week and I still haven't gotten over it. When I read about his last morning at home something inside me broke and I had trouble putting it out of my mind for the rest of the week.

You can read it here if you like http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Bullied+teen+still+missing/2621326/story.html

I immediately thought of my own children. Do I spend enough time with them? Do I listen? I also feel guilt for my own words when I was young because I know I used them for evil at times. I hope God protected and strengthened the people I was mean to or didn't stand up for.

The part of me that I don't like to talk about craves an eye for an eye but it's infinitely more powerful to have your own heart condem you.

When I think of the Psalms I often think of them as beautiful prophetic poetry but some are dark...

O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!
Happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock! - Psalm 137:8,9

This is classic eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Depressed and angry Israel was craving revenge for the atrocities that she had suffered. Israel's children were broken against stones. Now, with hearts of stone, we break children with words. God's Word breaks the heart of stone.

“Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29

The gathering

"Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. - Matthew 24: 23-28

The statement Jesus makes at the end about the "carcass" has always intrigued me. It seems like such a random thing to say and I'm still not 100% sure what he means.

Some years ago the body of grey whale washed up on the beach near our home. Someone told us that it was out there so we took the kids and went to find it. We walked along the grey rocky beach looking for a the body of a grey whale and I knew we would clearly be able to spot it from a mile away because I imagined that it would be covered with eagles. I was right and even though I didn't know where it was we found it without any trouble.

If you told someone in Israel to go out into the desert to look for a body they would likely scan the sky. If they saw nothing in the sky they would ignore you. But if they looked up and off in the distance they saw eagles or vultures circling, that sign would lead them with complete confidence to a body.

I think what Jesus is saying it that false Christs and false prophets will be misleading "even to the elect" but when Christ actually returns like lightening flashing from the east to the west all doubt will be removed.

Not alone

See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."

This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;

for our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:25 - 29

Scientists say the earthquake in Concepcion Chile was so powerful that it caused the earth to shift slightly on it's axis.

Click here to read the report --> NASA

We tend to trust the created things around us more than we probably should: money, technology, doctors, etc. It's fairly common to trust those things and arguably just as common to have our trust in them shaken. But the earth... shouldn't that always be secure? 3 minutes of solid ground behaving more like a liquid would be an extremely frightening experience.

Scripture says heaven as well as the earth will be shaken. Having that knowledge doesn't make it any less frightening. In fact it makes me a bit apprehensive to even think about it, but it gives me hope that what can't be shaken... won't be.

O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever. - Psalm 131

No matter what happens in this world our spiritual lives are secure. Everything might fall down all around us, and if we fall down in this world its comforting to know that there will be Someone to catch us in the next.

This reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from the movie Signs:

"People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them.

Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people.

But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?

Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"