Danger

My nephew still has not arrived. Come on, little man! We're waiting...

Expecting to hear the news of his birth at any moment, my mind has naturally been focused on little Seth Danger Johnson. The other day, I remembered this quote from one of my favorite books, Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson, and I realized how applicable this is to the Johnsons right now. (Yes, it's parenting advice, and no, I haven't had kids...but listen to it anyway! Mr. Wilson is a father of five...)

"The world is rated R, and no one is checking IDs. Do not try to make it G by imagining the shadows away. Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they've grown, they will pollute the shadows." (pg. 152)

Seth means "appointed one." Danger means...well..."danger." I'll admit it. I used to tease Seth's parents about his middle name. "Here's hoping he won't live up to it," I'd laugh.

Now, that's exactly what I'm praying for.

We need men appointed by God to be dangerous. Dangerous to wickedness. Dangerous to bad theology. Dangerous to the work Satan. Of course, everyone is a threat to something; may Seth be dangerous to the right things. Err, wrong things. You know what I mean.

And though the rest of us might not have the constant reminder of a middle name, we can't forget that we are involved in this spiritual battle, too. I have a little green army man named Jorge on my desk at home. Somehow he never made it out to Idaho. I took Jerry the Giraffe instead. (Note: Jerry the Giraffe has no theological significance as far as I can tell. He's just fun.) Anyway. Every time I looked at Jorge, I was reminded that we're in a battle. Every day, I have a choice to bring glory to God or not. To advance the kingdom or not. Luckily for me, the military strategy is not complicated. Love God, and love what God loves. That sounds too simple. It's not. It sends the enemy running in the other direction.

So, I urge all of you...go out into the world and be danger! And to Seth, I give the opposite command. You're already "Danger," and before you can go out into the world, you first need to come into it.

So, like I said...

We're waiting...