The Warrior's Heart.

It's a strange thing that boys are.

Every boy dreams of castles, swords, of playing the soldier. Sociology would define this as the effects of gender stratification. I think there's more to it than meets the eye (Transformer soundtrack plays in the background)

Boys loves adventure. When I was a little kid, I enjoyed running up and down the playground, and in those days the playground was at least 2 stories high. (I do know of some that were at least 3 stories high). And at the highest point of the playground, I would often gaze down, and the world before me becomes my kingdom. It is a mythical world of swords and dragons, knights and orcs. My group of pals would gather, and the field in front of the Toa Payoh KFC becomes our battle ground where we role played as warriors besieging the enemy's castle.

What's the point of my story?

Boys are born to be warriors; it is inbred into them from birth. Every society on earth honors and upholds the Warrior-Father image. Spartan society places heavy emphasis on military training, and upon completion of the standard military training, they would have to go thru the Krypteia, an initiation rite where male Spartans are sent into the wilderness, without food or weapons, to hunt, kill, and survive. Only upon surviving this test are they allowed to join Sparta's Hoplite armies; a place of honour for every Spartan boy. There is neither exception nor exemption, both prince and pauper will have to endure this test, or be found wanting. Aggression and a taste for danger is inbuilt into us since the beginning of time.

Should a Christian, who ought to love, accept this as biblical? Hear this out,

“The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is His name.” Exodus 15:3

'So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." ' Genesis 1:27-28

God is a warrior. He is often known in Hebrew as Adonai Tza'vot, or The LORD of Hosts. In Chinese, the translation declares God as “the Lord of the Great Army, numbering millions.” And I will never buy the image of a warrior as someone timid and soft spoken. No, a warrior is aggressive - a warrior's nature is to war. He leads His army against our enemies, and the chariots of the Lord numbers in tens of thousands as declared in Psalm 68, and as Elisha declared when facing off with the armies of Aram.

And if man was created in the image of God, I believe with all my heart a part of God's warrior side went into a part of the creation process. A fierce, aggressive and passionate side, full of zeal and fire. A heart that rises with the horn blast of the call to battle.

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.” Matthew 11:12

A boy is created to fight. Any attempts to subdue this truth, we end up emasculating him. And I'm not talking about physical violence, but rather the aggression that keeps the heart going, in tough times and desperate situation. It is a heart that picks himself up when he falls, a heart that pulls his brother up when he is wounded, a heart that reaches out and says “I care” in a broken and orphaned world.

It is a warrior's heart.

With such a heart, a man with the lowest status, from the lowest household of the lowest tribe, defeated a great army with only 300 men.

With such a heart, a shepherd boy took a stone and drove it hard into a giant's forehead, the first recorded head shot in history, and became the greatest king in Israel's history.

With such a heart, a man took a heavy cross and climbed a hill called Golgotha, and paid the ultimate price of sacrifice because of love.

So often we try to cut off such a heart, and then wonder how come sometimes the guys seem so aimless, directionless in life. The truth is, until and unless a man finds back this heart which God has originally intended, then I say we are all doomed - our church, our ministry, our families, our society.

Our ministry needs such men, - men who dare to rise up to pursue their God-given callings, to marshal the troops and take Canaan by force instead of wandering in the desert till their time is up. Sometimes this is a lonely fight; I believe that as much as the Body is able to support them in times of needs, there are simply some battles that we must fight alone. Jacob struggled alone with the Angel; Jesus struggled against the devil alone. It is our own war, our very own initiation into a warrior.

I've witnessed it personally, both in my own experiences, and in the lives of the men I take care of in the army Lifegroup – We all go through battles, especially in National Service, and I thank God everyday that we have such a thing called NS. As much as people hate it, it is a very good tool that God uses to refine a man, to shake and shape a man up from his comfort zone and into the unknown. And most of the time such battles in NS are lonely affairs. I never believed in telling my men that “It's okie, I understand how you feel etc”, cause it's all rubbish – every fight is intensely personal to the man himself. No one will ever fight the battles that I fight, no one will truly understand. So often we patronize others by claiming that we understand what they're going thru, when we really don't. I will never pray that they will go thru a easy time in NS. On the contrary my prayers would often move along the lines like this:

“Lord, I do not pray that you ease their tough times, but may You, thru these experiences, make them stronger, growing them in perseverance and faith, and refining them so that they may become instruments of Your Will. Amen.”

We need such prayers. Prayers of faith and strength that flows not from us, but from a heart that trusts in God and in what He says He's going to do. Make ready the horse on the day of battle, but only God holds the Palms of Victory. This heart doesn't need to be perfect; it could even be a little broken.

God doesn't want a perfect heart; He wants an available heart.

I believe, with all my heart, that only when the men rise up, can we truly build a strong ministry.

Let's pray for the guys in our ministry!

The Truth Shall Set You Free.

I've got a nephew who is currently in Primary 1 now.

He's got this fear of cats, and would often suffer many episodes of having a cat suddenly appearing out of nowhere and dashing across his path, creating alot of fear in him.

Then one day while walking with him, a cat was in the way of our route, and he refused to carry on that same path.

So I told him,

"You're so much bigger than a cat, you shouldn't be afraid of them! They're more afraid of you!"

And with a low growl I sent the cat fleeing for it's dear life.

A few weeks later, we were once again walking down the same path with his older brother (who also had the same fear of cats). And there in our path laid the same cat. This time round, it was his older brother who was afraid and wanted to take a different path.

To my pleasant surprise, my little nephew (the younger one) said,

"There's nothing to be afraid of; we're bigger than the cat".

And he carried on the same path, making the cat run for it's dear life.

He knew the truth, and the truth had set him free.

Movies.

It seems lots of lousy sequels are surfacing, people trying for an attempt to ride on popular films to earn a quick buck.

Pirates was horrible. The plot was confusing with multiple betrayal and everyone at everyone's throat. The story boring and long, and I'll never forgive myself for even listening to Kiera Knightly's dumb pre-battle speech. (Though I must say, Keith Richards cameo as Jack Sparrow's dad was superb!)

Shrek 3 was okie, but it lacked the humour and wit of the 1st and 2nd film. (My favorite line in the entire show is a screaming Arthur crying "Help! I've been kidnapped by an ogre and he's trying to relate to me!!!" Heh.)

28 Weeks Later, a long awaited sequel for me since I'm a fan of zombie flicks was still alright. (And it does make an attempt to portray current situations in Iraq with this film, which I found pretty amusing) I don't know why, but I got the hots for survival films.

It seems it has been a long time since I caught a good movie (with the recent one been a film about 300 bare-bodied men running around with spears and shields in 300). And I can't deny it; I'm more or less a film junkie. I'm a big film of old classics like Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. Throw in the grandeur of the epics like Gladiator and Braveheart, and a dose of history with Black Hawk Down and Empire of the Sun. Surprise surprise, I do enjoy comedy, who wouldn't? (well, I kinda like Adam Sandler's brand of romantic comedies like 50 First Dates and the Wedding Singer) They act like an escape from the hassles of life, and relaxes me. Some films even perk me up to face new challenges. Sounds amazing eh?

Next on the menu:

TRANSFORMER! (A must-watch for kids who grew up in the 80s and early 90s)

Die Hard 4.0 (With loads of B-grade liners, ask Alvin Chen along to enjoy the total experience!)