I know a monk in Myanmar — high ranking, as monks go. He is able to go inside of pagodas. Not all monks can do that. I most certainly can not do that. But he can.
We go to different places. Some go to offices, others to classrooms. Still others go to the food pantry, to stand in lines, to factories, or shoppes, libraries, refineries. Some stay home.
In our story today, Ehud went somewhere too. He went to King Eglon’s palace, and it was not a social call.
Ehud’s situation was grim, you see. He was a leader of the smallest tribe in Israel, and oppressed by a triumvirate of distant cousins: The Moabites, The Ammonites and the Amalekites. Ehud was probably pretty mad about that. Maybe even mad enough to…. kill!
I can just about see it in my mind:
Ehud pacing back and forth in one of the rooms in his house: “I don’t want to give tribute to that fat old laggard,” he might have fumed to no one in particular. “I am sick of him lounging around the city of palm trees, profiting off our backs, and taking our women. He and the others have brought Chemosh and Moloch. into the city that Ya Himself gave to us, our first victory, our own land. It’s just too much!”
Ehud would have been aware of Eglon’s fancy new Jericho villa, used mainly as a weekend retreat. And Ehud would have had first hand experience of Eglon’s oppression. And the oppression wasn’t getting any better. In fact, he was due to take a tribute payment to Eglon in just a few days.
Ehud knew that he had to do something. But, what…. what to do?
It’s like the start to an adventure story, isn’t it?
Well, it is an adventure. We are all on an adventure, after all. Even Ehud.
Ehud’s adventure continues when he gains entry to the palace. Then, he gains entry to King Eglon’s very private rooms. And, finally, Ehud manages to get his sword deep into Eglon’s gut. Into the palace, into the private rooms, into Eglon’s gut… In, in, in… Ehud was a man who got in.
We are all getting in to one place or another. Maybe it is just getting in to work, or in on a meeting, or into wherever… Sometimes I even get myself into trouble. But, wherever you and I go, we carry a sword. It’s not like Ehud’s sword. It’s the sword of the spirit, the word of God, or the Christ Spirit. And allowing that spirit to get into the cracks and crevices of our meetings, shoppes, classrooms, and lives is where the real adventure begins.
We will not all go to the same places today, but we will all carry the same spirit to the places that we do visit.
Where will you go today?
How will things change if the Christ Spirit is with you?
Linda “Lindy” McMillan is a native of the American state of Texas. She currently resides in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Lindy’s vocation is adventure, expressed in the ministry of loving the world back to its peace in God.
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