photo by Paul Gallo
I was speaking to a group of high school kids. Several of them had been to our house. Petey was a gamer. He had been over at our house when I broke out a couple of paint ball guns and paired everyone off in duels with a single paintball each. It was awesome.
Anyway, I wanted to make a point about how dependant a human being is. I called Petey to the front. I told him I was going to put him in a chair and get him in a rear naked choke. I had been watching a lot of MMA (mixed martial arts). I realize it is not very pastoral. A rear naked choke is a hold that cuts off the air supply until your opponent must “tap out” or black out. I told Petey just to tap out when he needed to. I put a towel over his head so the class couldn’t see his face and got him in the hold.
He lasted longer than I thought and then tapped. I didn’t let go. My idea was to have him panic and struggle and show that a human being when deprived of something he is dependent on will do almost anything to get it. It was going to be a brilliant point. Petey tapped, waited and tapped again with a little more urgency. I held fast waiting for the struggle I knew Petey was capable of. Instead Petey put his arms at his side and stopped struggling. I released him and took the towel off. I asked, “Petey, why didn’t you struggle?” He said, “ I figured you weren’t letting me go for a reason so I just decided to wait to black out.” I told you Petey was a gamer. The school hasn’t asked me back.
My real point is this. It is comical that human beings even talk about independence. God made us so we need to eat every few hours. We need to drink almost hourly. We can only live minutes without air (unless you are Petey and you are willing to take it to the mat). God made us so that every 5 seconds we would be reminded we are dependent beings. Who gives us air and water and food? Where does it all come from?
I don’t know what we are going to do in heaven but sometimes I dream of God setting me loose to create my own little world. I know I would make some fundamental error. I would create a world where all the creatures would eat the same kind of food. All my creatures would live approximately 4 days before all the food on the planet would be gone and my poor little guys would begin to drop over one by one. God would come by and look at me, smile the smile you smile when you like someone a lot but they are just not that bright. He would then fold up my world into a lump of clay and hand it to me to start over.
The idea that everyone on this planet is breathing and drinking and eating is just astounding. And we have the audacity to think there is such a thing as being independent. It makes God smile that smile again.
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Being a submission grappler, I had to re-post this...great stuff!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon
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