I have been defrosting the freezer today.
What better day to defrost the freezer than when its 97* Fahrenheit outside.
I always intentionally choose the hottest day of the year to defrost the freezer because: #1 – all the built-up ice inside the freezer helps to cool the house down a bit as the house heats up during the day. (we don’t have AC in our house) #2 – as the house heats up during the day, the freezer usually defrosts quicker.
It has been at least 3 years since I last defrosted the freezer, so the build-up of ice inside the freezer was immense! I have had 11 different bath towels/beach towels rotating through, as the ice has been melting.
An added bonus of defrosting the freezer on the hottest day of the year is that the sopping-wet, soggy towels dry out quickly! By the time the current towel in the freezer is sopping wet and needs to be replaced … one of the already-used towels drying in the heat outside has already dried completely and can be brought back inside to be used again. It works pretty good.
My entire back deck has had soppy soggy towels draped over railings …
And here’s some more soppy soggy towels draped over here …
And some more soppy soggy towels draped over here …
As I was standing in my bedroom folding laundry just now, gazing out the back window at all the soppy soggy towels draped all over the deck railings, a memory suddenly came rushing back to me from the very first time I played the game “Capture the Flag.”
I was in high school and our youth group was going to play “Capture the Flag” in the big field back behind our church. The church owned this property and as kids in the youth group we called it “The Back 40.” We loved to romp and roam all over “The Back 40.”
For our game of “Capture the Flag” our youth group was divided into two teams. One team was given a team flag, and their task was to hide the flag, then guard the flag to keep the opposing team from capturing their flag. The team I was on was tasked with capturing the flag.
As a high schooler, I wasn’t “the sharpest tack in the box.”
In my high school brain, I somehow thought the point of the game was: to not get caught. And to this end I devoted my strategy throughout the game. I slunk and sneaked my way in the dark, through the tall weeds, across the expanse of “The Back 40.” I was terrified of getting caught. I could not get caught!
Somewhere along the way, as I slunk and slithered, I came across a soppy soggy towel in the field.
“Ah-ha!” I thought to myself. “This will be a perfect way to camouflage myself so that I don’t get caught!”
In my high school brain, it never occurred to me how long that soppy soggy towel might have been lying out there in the middle of the field. It never occurred to me all the bugs which were probably in that soppy soggy towel. It never occurred to me just how nasty that soppy soggy towel might have been.
The only thing that mattered was that I not get caught!
So, I proceeded to pull the soppy soggy towel over top of myself as camouflage … so that I wouldn’t get caught. And there I stayed. The entire length of the game!
The teens from the other team passed quite close by, looking for members from my team to catch. But they didn’t see me at all. I was quite smug, hidden and camouflaged underneath the soppy soggy towel.
The entire point of the game of “Capture the Flag” is to capture . the . flag!
Yes, part of playing the game is to not get caught. But the point isn’t solely to not get caught. The point is to capture the flag!
As I stood in my bedroom this afternoon, folding laundry and looking out at all the soppy soggy towels draped across the back deck railings … I was pondering the blog I had just written about being a good soldier for Jesus Christ. The thought suddenly struck me: “You know, a bunch of Christians are being soldiers for Jesus Christ the same way I played “Capture the Flag” in high school.
A bunch of Christians think that the point of the Christian life is: “to not get caught.”
As a high schooler I didn’t want the opposing side to give me trouble. I didn’t want any grief. I didn’t want any conflict. I would rather cover myself with a soppy soggy towel (which had been lying out in the field for who knows how long! … most likely full of bugs!) if it ensured that I wouldn’t “get caught.”
And you know … it worked, in that I didn’t get caught.
But I didn’t play the game. I didn’t engage in the search. I didn’t try. I didn’t put forth any effort.
I didn’t even make an attempt at all to try to find the flag … let alone try to capture it.
I didn’t play the game.
So too, this is the way many Christians are living the Christian life. They don’t want any trouble for being a Christian. They don’t want any grief. They don’t want any conflict. They would rather “cover themselves with a soppy soggy towel” (so to speak) and stay put, hidden and camouflaged … than risk “getting caught.”
Christians who live the Christian life like this aren’t really soldiers for Jesus Christ. They aren’t in the war at all. They aren’t engaged in the cosmic battle of unseen forces between dark and light.
Christians who live the Christian life like this aren’t putting forth any effort to be a soldier. They aren’t making an attempt at all to try to advance the Kingdom of Light.
But on a bigger broader scale … the cosmic battle of unseen forces between dark and light are in an active struggle to capture our “Red, white, and blue.”
What will we do??
Will we get active? Will we engage in the struggle?
Will we stand up against lies and wrong?
Will we put for any effort at all for our “Red, white, and blue”??
Or will we remain safe underneath our soppy soggy towel, staying put so that we “don’t get caught”?
If we stay put underneath our soppy soggy towel, our “Red, white, and blue” will get captured.
