Shock and Awe

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Once I was a brash ignorant self-satisfied young punk. Nothing shocking about that.

I was Mr Superintellect, Academic in training. I knew more than my professors [seriously, at least in my areas] and I knew it better. I had a simple categorization of people - smart likeable people, jerks, and dumb folks. Dumb folks beat jerks by a slim margin, but were still off my radar.

In Grad School I met this guy - in some classes together. One of the dumb folks - he freely admitted as much, struggling with what to me was child's play. Nice enough guy, but clearly dumb AND Christian AND a practicing missionary.

So I should have dismissed him as a dumb beast, maybe a step above a trained sheep dog, but in no way equal.

Problem is - I could not look down on him, I could not even ignore him. He shone - I had this nagging feeling he was better than I was [HOW could a dumbfolk be better than I was?].

It was very disconcerting. NOBODY was better than I was. The idea was laughable. One of my professors was almost as good.

I never heard him say one proud or preaching word to anybody.

Holy ground, folks.

God demonstrates his power by using the weakest of men to show the power comes from God himself, as with litte David beating the Giant Goliath.
The Bible says he will make the wisdom of this world look foolish in comparison to his wisdom, and you can be sure he will use the foolish of this world to accompany this.
Or maybe you are astute enough to see the power of one so very much more intelligent and powerfull than you, using this weak vessell?

As for Shock and Awe, It is said to be a way to get many peolple to reciete the name of a demon whose name is Shocanor or something.

David was a shepherd boy and among his tasks was to keep the wolves and the dogs away from his flocks. So he must have, like most shepherds become right handy with the stone-slinger.

David vs Goliath has become a kind of icon for the times when Jews stand up to nations mightier and larger than they are. For example: see the result of the Six Day War. In the space of a week the Jews of Israel whipped three Arab speaking nations more populous than Israel. Once again David used his sling effectively.

During the second world war the German decided to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto. There was an uprising of Jews wherein the Jews lasted about fifty days against the Germans who were overwhelming in their strength and power. The Jews of the Ghetto lasted as long against the Germans as France did, but with a lot less going for them. David did not slay Goliath this time, but he put up a damned good fight!

It is absolutely amazing what one can do when there is no alternative but life/survival and death/defeat.

It teaches one how to focus.

ruveyn