I find it necessary to remind myself why I created this site, and the past couple of months have reminded me that I need to revisit my mission for this site. I realize I have used this site mainly to communicate to my students at NCA, and the bulk of time was devoted to assignments and communicating messages to parents and students, but in reality that was my secondary purpose.
Things are not what they seem, and if you had a chance to hear the charge given at our last graduation this past week (our school is closing down) you may understand that my…our mission is greater! We are in a battle. So I’m going to revisit one of my first blog entries to refresh my reason for creating this blog.
Turtles United
Most of my friends know that I draw turtles. I’ve been doing that since my years at University of Maryland. UofMD’s mascott is a terrapin, or turtle. I worked in the graduate library, and outside my third story window I looked down upon this statute of a turtle all day long. So naturally I created a cartoon character of this terrapin. Occasionally I would work on archival photographs for the library, which was my job. I was pursuing a degree in photojournalism at the time.
How I got to Maryland is a story in itself, but we can look into that at another time. “Testudo” was the name of the terrapin statue that guarded the entrance to the library, and that name became my character’s name. Testudo is Latin for tortoise, tortoise shell, hence protective covering. New World Dictionary defines testudo as, “a movable shelter or screen with a strong arched roof, used by ancient Roman soldiers.” But what caught my eye was the number two definition which states, “a protective covering over a group of ancient Roman soldiers, formed by overlapping their shields above their heads.”
Now many of you have already realized the significance of this discovery, but just in case it escapes you. Paul in Ephesians 6 uses Roman military language to describe a spiritual armour, and the shield is referred to as, “the shield of faith.” This shield of faith is mentioned in the passage in the following manner, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish ALL the flaming arrows of the evil one.
I recently became curious about the word, “ALL” in this passage. How could my lone little shield of faith extinguish ALL the flaming arrows of the evil one. Actually I was painfully aware of how ineffective my shield was. And that was when I had my revelation. Paul never intended me to be holding up my pitful, lone, little shield above my head all by myself. Only an arrogant western mind would think that out on the battle field the one lone soldier; Braveheart, The Marine, Dirty Hairy and a thousand other western iconic lone heroes are battling single-handedly a bazillion bad guys all at once. Paul is intending us to see this “shield of faith” in the context of Roman soldiers who form a protective covering by overlapping their sheilds above their heads in order to extinguish ALL the flaming arrows of the evil one.
I wonder how many christians have been lambasted by the evil one because they are out there on the battle field with their little lone shield of faith, and then they crucify themselves for not having enough faith to extinguish ALL the flaming arrows!
Well, I for one, have had enough. I say, “Turtles Unite!”
Oh, did I forget to mention that the “over arching” theme (pun intended) of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is that of unity.
That was my original entry. I believe that my thoughts are even more important now. The battle, I believe is heating up, and we need each other more than ever. Our mission trip to Baja illustrated that we will be called trees of righteousness called to restore the ruined cities, but one thing I forgot to mention in the charge at graduation (see Trees of Righteousness entry) is that the title “trees of righteousness” given to our graduates and to us is plural! Alone we are a tree, but together we are trees…trees of righteousness on the move. We are a forest charging down on the Telmarines!
“And then imagine that the wood, instead of being fixed to one place, was rushing at you; and was no longer trees but huge people; yet still like tress because their long arms waved like branches and their heads tossed and leveaves fell round them in showers. It was like that for the Telmarines. It was a little alarming even for the Narnians.” (From Prince Caspian)
We need to hear Aslan’s roar, and wake up! We are Trees - not a single tree - we are trees - an entire wood, a big honkin’ forest, and no dark, evil army can stand against such an enchanted forest. I know many of us are sad about the school closing, but what we need to see is that our beloved school planted a whole lot of Trees of righteousness…a forest of trees that can still use our help and guidance and prayer. We our moving into different realms, but we are still a wood, a forest. Picture a forest sprawling over a thousand hills for hundreds of miles. I might be on hill “A” at the most northern part of the forest, and you may be growing on hill “XYZ,” but what we both need to realize is that we are still one wood! I imagine, and hopefully there is a botanist out their who can confirm this for me, but I imagine that a forest holds together and stands strong due to its intricate root systems that wind and bind the entire forest together, making it nearly impossible for one tree to be blown over. See, we are forest and not a tree. We need to be like the people who can’t see the tree for the forest rather than the folk who can’t see the forest for the tree! See the wood Trees of righteousness! Unite! Don’t give up the fight!
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