Land with no king

I love the whole idea of serving a king. Being a warrior and having that sense of honor and pride. I have a viking heritage so I’m a fan of the whole bearded, bear skin wearing, massive axe or sword swinging kinda warrior. But that’s not the point of this blog. America is king-less. No matter how much I read about it or how many movies I see it in, the whole life style of serving a king is lost in this age. We love to watch movies about war of any time period but we are flabbergasted when our country goes to war.  We have a president whom we more often disrespect and mock more than serve and protect.  So many civilizations had an idea that to die serving their king was an honor.  And we can have that same mentality but I also see the other side where when someone does die for the cause of our country people grip about how that’s not fair and we shouldn’t be at war (and maybe your right). BUT I’m sorry, just because we live in a world that is far more advanced then the times when war was fought with swords and shields doesn’t mean that we’re past the point of war in this world. I’m not trying to push some political agenda (even though I’m sure some of you might disagree.) I’m not, if anything we should see the greater issue (in my mind,) that is we’ve lost the ability to serve beyond our own selfishness. Not in the sense of our current military but more on the lines of our own personal wars. The point of my griping about all this is that we don’t have a current example of what serving a king should look like in our life today. The Bible says God is our King, so we respectfully agree, but do we even know the true weight of that statement? What does it mean to serve a king? What is my role in His service? How do I fight for Him? Do the decisions I make reflect His heart? Do I kneel or bow in His presence? Am I to casual in the way I interact with Him? Granted I know God also presents Himself as a Father who doesn’t require all the formalities that a king would. I just don’t know if I take that for granted.

I guess I’ve done church and worship many different ways over the years but to be honest…I really want to serve God like he is my King and I don’t know how to do that. I want to be his warrior however that may look. Current worship trends keep us up with the “better” way to worship God each year but I’m not convinced. Nor do I have an answer.

firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values

Integrity. The idea of following truth seems to be almost self-explanatory. I don’t know if it’s because of a culture shift or if it has always been this way but I have found a great deal of people living in honesty. I see a desire to be real in a callused world of half truths. They have a willingness to be needy and ask for love. Driven for truth, real truth, to be the reason they survive. If there is weakness in their life they say “Here it is, help me though it.” They are a society no longer wanting this dream of independence but embracing a life community and friendship.

However I have found so many people I share this with say we should not become someone else’s burden. Being so honest and vulnerable can ruin your reputation and in doing so, ruin your purpose. Others say we deserve our privacy and if we allow such close community we lose this God given right to our independence. But one, I don’t feel that being independent is a right; I think it’s a curse. How can we truly respect others if we don’t need them? Where is thankfulness when we don’t need a hand? How can we be humble if we are never humbled? How do we love when the people that need loving are not part of us? Two it’s not my reputation that needs to be blameless. And if others know my faults and weaknesses I now have accountability. Any good debater could rip what I just said apart but if we just stop the urge to fight ever being in agreement, sit and let the concept marinate, we might see it clearer.

I once desired to live in a valley on ranch with my family with lots of land and ride horses all day long. Not a wrong dream to have but I don’t know if I could do it anymore. I felt at one point that I was selfish for wanting such a dream and it may have been. Some would say that’s OK to be selfish for such a dream because we work hard to be “successful” and you can do just about whatever you want with that “success.” As much as I disagree with that statement I’ve come to realize that I wouldn’t be happy in my haven of isolation anyway. I am way too social of a being to lose the closeness of my friends. I love being in community with others. I love challenging conversations and thought provoking moments. Being with people who say we are not doing our best how can we do better? People who know how to pray for me because they are so integrated in my life and I’m in theirs.

Part of me thinks that were all the same in this way but we have been burnt by vulnerability in the past and therefore find a socially acceptable way to embrace the fear of being hurt again. People will disagree with this and I can live with that. The main thing is to be willing to grow. Even if you write a blog and someone you highly respect comes in and says “I can see where you’re coming from but you missed the mark.” Awesome lets grow.

Super Hero Envy

Most of us love the super hero concept. It doesn’t matter if its from movies, comics, TV, video games, or any where else you may get your super hero kicks. But why? Do we have some void in our life causing us to have this draw? Why do we have that hidden desire every time we watch a super hero on the screen to be that? Is it a personal desire for power, being fearless, or knowing we have a greater purpose. Is it knowing that with that power we would not feel the need to try to prove how great we are? Or is it ability to protect others? Maybe if we had the honer and integrity of a super hero we would respect ourselves more? I’m sure there’s tons of reasons but those (at least for me) seem to be some big reasons. I find it frustrating though that the resounding thyme in those questions is insecurity in who we are now. The hero never gets the girl or respect but that’s ok because that only makes him even more admirable. They spend their days saving lives but don’t get the credit or support. Still they don’t let that stop them from doing it again tomorrow…why? As lame as it is when your think of the macho hero, the big reason is…Love. Love seems to be the main reason majority of super hero’s do what they do. Some because of love lost but most because of love for the people of world or whatever made up city they live in.

It’s still funny to me though. Its because of our selfishness that we want to be hero’s but the only reason the hero stays a hero is because of their unselfishness. Look at any hero, its easy to see they are insecure and lonely. They are confident when need be but still insecure with who they are. Most even wish they didn’t have the powers that we sit and wish we had. Who knows maybe that’s another draw to us wanting to be super hero’s. Is it in everyone, do some people sit through a whole super hero movies and never think about being greater then they are? Maybe I’m just childish.