HILEYBOY
- Hileyboy
- Leeds, west yorkshire, United Kingdom
- I'm currently on a worldwide trip seeing some of the most amazing places in the world, meeting some of the greatest people there is to meet and trying to be the best that i can be and use the little i have to help others and make a difference
Check out my book of face
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Facing up to giants
The bible stories we have been doing with the young people were about David and how he faced every challenge through his life even the ones as big as Goliath bravely knowing that God was bigger than any obstacle he had to face. I have faced l;ots of personal challenges so far since i've left the uk and its made me think about fear and what it holds us back from doing. Reminds me of the words from one of my favourite films "fear will hold you prisoner, hope will set you free" i hope i don't let fear stop me from doing anything i feel is right on this trip.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
How do Mr Hiley - it's Shandy Andy.
Over here in Woodville its Tuesday 15th Jan, its getting late, and I thought i'd catch up on your blog.
Reading your post about facing up to giants got me thinking about the subject. For any of the folks who are reading the blog who don't know me, i'm a friend of Ian's in the UK, who met Ian quite by chance on a night out in Melbourne (the original Melbourne lol). I'm not religious - at least in the stereotypical sense, but I don't see why that should stop me from posting a comment on my mate's blog that journals all the work he's doing over there. And no, i'm not going to post a comment like "...oh yeah I totally agree..." or "...cool blog...". Instead i'm going to post a comment that I hope turns out to be a bit more meaty for you readers!
Here goes:
Everybody knows the story about David & Goliath. Well, they do, but on the face of it only. You see, the power of a story (i said story, not fiction, different things OK!) lies in the symbolism it uses. Most of the time we see the obvious symbols, like the giant and the shepard boy. For most of us we tend to learn this at school in assembly or something, and, as our lives march on through the years, we get to have new experiences and the stories we were taught in childhood tend to be relegated to the past - and stay there. This is fine for most people, but unless you revisit those stories later on and look at them through the eyes of the adult that you have become, your interpretation or rather your understanding of the story is that of a child's. So, like I said, we see the giant, the shepard boy, and not much else.
That's the obvious bit.
When I read through Ian's post, he made comments about how since leaving the UK he's had to face up to some personal challenges. So I think i'm right in saying that Ian is saying "Well, I don't have any giants to fight....but i've got these challenges to deal with....so they're my giants".
(I do think it would be cool though if you could sort of tell us more about what these challenges were, HOW you worked out what to do, and what it felt like doing it).
Anyway - back to the symbolism thing.
Personally for me, my giants if you like have come in many guises. They've been real people i just haven't been able to get along with. They've been rules imposed upon me. They've been physical challenges. These exernal ones are the ones i know i can deal with easiest.
The toughest giants i have ever come across are the ones inside me. The ones like the fear bred from an uncertain situation. The anxiety that comes from not having enough of a control on a situation. The temper that flares up when someone lies to me. The jealousy that rages within me when I see someone with something or some woman I want. But i suppose the nastiest one is where you get bitter with the passing of time (seriously, I defy ANYONE to deny its never happened to them).
Its these kind of giants that are hard to slay; after all, how do you fight yourself?
So that's one level of interpretation on the story. The one most folks can easily identify with.
The next level of interpretation is ever so slightly more subtle. After reading what i've put below i bet you can remeber loads of examples where you've seen it happen.
For me, the story was also meant to give hope to the weak man who faces a strong man. But notice that david didn't win by listening to a really motivational, feel good about yourself, anything's possible pep talk, and fighting Goliath toe to toe. He just wouldn't have won. David knew this, which is why he did the following:
Goliath expected David to fight him using the same weapons as Goliath (probably a spear and shield, with big heavy armour). David was smart enough to realise that was what Goliath WANTED him to do. After all, Goliath was who he was because he was so bloody good at using his regular weapons.
David decided to change the rules of the game. He used a sling & stone. Therefore, all of Goliaths skill with spear and shield counted for nothing. David had levelled the playing field.
Note that in our lives today, the winners we see are only the winners because they're so good at playing to the established rules.
So for me, the story also tells of how you can be weaker than your enemy and still win IF YOU'RE WILLING TO PUT THE EFFORT IN AND BE CREATIVE.
I've got another couple of interpretations of this story up my sleeve, but perhaps i'll tell Ian what they are after he buys me a pint of Hoegaarden in the Roebuck.
See ya soon Ian!
hey andy
good response mate very deep, i agree with your interpretation,like it a lot.
sometimes we do need to change the rules. Am reading a book as i travel about a guy who travelled to many different places and tries to live basically what he calls a true Christian life as close as he can find to the way Jesus lived his life and he calls himself an Ordinary radical. Anyway the link with what you were writing i read yesterday when he writes about the time he gave his class speech at his uni graduation (a bit american i know so i apologize)
"some friends and i were busted for jumping out of windows of our dorms so the dean had written us a warning that said "can you please enter and exit the buildings through the doors like everyone else?" so i later entitled my graduation speech "Crawl through the window" went something like this "the doors of normalcy and conformity are dead. The time has come to give up on doors and find a window to climb through. It's a little more dangerous and may get you into trouble, but its a heck of a lot more fun. The people who have changed this world have always been the risk takers who climb through windows while the rest of the world just walks in and out of doors."
Sometimes the rules do need changing and not just to our benefit but for our whole society
ian
Post a Comment