Inspiration

It's Saturday night and I sit here quietly on the couch with my headphones on, and my laptop appropriately on my lap. I just got done watching the movie "300" (yes, I know I'm late... whatever). I'm not ready to walk outside and spear people, but I have been inspired nonetheless.

My father was originally born in Greece, and grew up there until he left at the age of 15. He remembered the Nazis marching through Greece as a young boy, and when the communists came in after WWII and attempted to take over both Greece and Turkey, he was one of the "rebels" who stood up to them. He first killed a man at the tender age of 10... tender, but experienced. He was later hung but since he was just a young boy the communist leader decided to just hang him by his chin, not the throat, in effect neutralizing him and giving him a jaw ache. However light he may have gotten off, keep in mind he was "hung" next to his comrades, who were not given the same lenient treatment.

My father was from just outside the village of Sparta.

My father was only 6'0" tall and 185 lbs, but he was a warrior in both spirit and temperament.
He didn't have an 8-pack nor muscles the size of melons underneath his skin. But his mere glance WOULD freeze larger men in their tracks, for they knew his wasn't a "look" to threaten, but to warn. I saw this look frequently when I would mess up as a child... it was not a look I longed for.

As his son, I have this same warrior spirit within me. But mine is not the battle of the flesh. Despite my military status I don't wield weapons at the enemy nor scream in the throes of battle. I'd probably pee myself first.

My battlefield, my arena, is spiritual. The other vast difference is the strength and wherewithal to fight doesn't come from me but from He who created me, He who prepared and made me for this life. It's a battle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against spiritual forces in high places.

All too often I let myself get off course... it's so easy to become distracted by the things of this world, by the priorities of this world... that my prayers and Bible sustenance become fewer and fewer and my purpose on this earth becomes blurrier.
I am here to do whatever He wants, and at the present time I think it's to prepare myself for the future. But the more I get distracted and off-track, the less I'm able to fulfill my destiny in His name. Maybe not now, but later.

Sure, some of this may be left over hubris from watching the movie. But make no mistake, the movie merely refueled a bit of my passion. The direction and inspiration and life came from Him... and it's up to me to give it back, every day.

And only by dying can I truly live.