It all started when I was a kid... our whole family would land in an area of comfort in front of the TV. Anxiously flipping through all twelve channels of cable back then, to finally land on the station where the World Wide Wrestling phenomena began. These big burly guys pitted against Joe Blow, the poor fellow they picked off the street and paid fifty bucks to go head to head for three-five minute rounds of nonstop mayhem. With the signing of “release from injury” form, which releases the World Wide Wrestling from all liability of injury that Joe will PROBABLY sustain. They thank Joe and wish him good luck. (He’s going to need it)
Joe Blow now finds himself standing in the ring awaiting his adversary. Then all of a sudden the lights go dim, the theme music from “Jaws” floods the air, the crowd goes wild, and there standing in the spotlight is Joe’s opponent. The announcer makes his introduction. Joe can not believe his eyes as the monstrous man strides up to the ring. Joe can’t believe his ears, as he hears the death defying phrase the announcer uses to start the contest. “LET”S GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!”
Now Joe only has a few seconds to develop a highly strategic plan to make it through the next fifteen minutes of his short life. Will he choose to run from corner to corner of the ring avoiding the conflict completely? He could just flop to the ground and wait for his enemy to slam him into a submission hold. [Wrestling note: a submission hold—is when one man manipulates the joint or limb of his opponent into a very painful position, until the joint is dislocated or the bone is broke, or the contender hits the mat three times.] If the he hits the mat three times this is called “tapping” or “forfeiting the fight” How will Joe choose to face his contender?As you thumb through your bible, you will read about all the miraculous battles. The brawl I want to talk about is Jesus fight for eternal life. He fought the darkest, most difficult spiritual battle ever. He did it for us!
As Luke records Jesus at Mount of Olives, we pick up the event at the time right before Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. Jesus has just left his disciples to stand watch as he goes to pray in the garden. In Chapter 22 verse 41 reads…He went away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed (verse 42) “Father if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will be done but yours be done.” We see the internal conflict within Jesus. Jesus is crying out to His Heavenly Father…”If there is any other way, let’s do it. If there was another way, I think God would have sent down a fleet of angels at that very moment to protect His one and only precious Son. Jesus was 100% human and 100% God. In all of his human ways, He dreaded the tortures that waited before Him. He endured the beatings, the flogging, and at theend being crucified. He did all of this because He first loved us. Jesus understood that God’s will was the only way. Jesus never tapped, he just persevered.I sincerely believe there are difficulties in this life that God wants us to go over, or under, or around. More importantly there are battles He wants us to go through. Whatever the fight maybe or however long we must go through something; loss of a job, another round of chemo, a pregnancy test negative…again, or a loss of a loved one. These raw and painful times we feel like tapping, but we should be on our knees like Jesus seeking our Heavenly Father. God answers all of our prayers, weather it is yes, no, or not yet we need to receive his answer with a thankful heart. God uses these moments to mold us, shape us and protect us.
Darrol and I are refusing to tap. We are still holding strong at 63% of our monthly income. We are on our knees daily for strength and wisdom to continue to build our support team, and the timing to put our house on the market, and a date to leave for our training in North Carolina. Please continue to pray for us and pray about partnering financially with us.
The Prusia’s
Darrol, Kim, Dylan, David, Daythan & Donovan
PS. E-mail: dprusia @caminternational.com
