Blog by Polly Boyette
I don’t know about you, but I’m terrified of anything that crawls, flies, slithers or creeps like bugs, spiders and snakes. I don’t mean just terrified, but scared to the point of considering selling the house if I even so much as get a glimpse of a creepy crawler of any kind.
After moving into my new home I came to realize there were even new and different creepy crawlers to worry about. On one particular day, while Robbie and I were working in the garage with the door open, a giant, mutant bee-like monster came flying right at us. Of course, we let go with lots of screaming and running around waving our arms as you do when you encounter a bug in my house, but it was to no avail. The giant bee just kept diving at us, as though he intended to take over the garage at all cost.
After we spent an ample amount of time running around and screaming at the top of our lungs, I got the brilliant idea to close the garage door so we could trap him and kill him. At least, I thought it was a brilliant idea at the time. Once I got the garage door shut, I handed the broom to Robbie and said with complete confidence and authority, “Here, you trap him against the ceiling!”
Robbie stared back at me like I had lost my mind or something. “Are you crazy? I’m not trapping anything. Let’s go inside and hide until he’s gone.” Robbie headed for the door to the house.
“No!” I screamed with my eyes bulging out of my sockets. “You have to trap him now. I don’t want to be attacked every time I walk into the garage. He’ll be waiting for us. He might even get into the house and then, well, I’d have to sell the place.”
Robbie knew I was serious. So she reluctantly grabbed the broom from my hand and started wildly swiping at the giant bee while I helpfully shouted instructions to her. Finally, she managed to trap him against the ceiling.
“Now what?” Robbie asked.
“Well, smash the broom against him as hard as you can,” I advised.
Robbie began to push the broom against the ceiling with all her might while I encouraged her by dancing from foot to foot shouting, “Harder! Harder!”
Suddenly we heard this loud buzzing sound like the giant bee was eating his way through the broom. Robbie screamed and dropped the broom causing us to run into each other, waving our arms and screaming, as we are so prone to do.
The giant bee-like mutant was free and diving at us once again, only this time with even more determination.
“Open the garage door!” Robbie shouted. “Let him out of here!”
Although it was against my better judgment, I pounded on the button that opens the garage door as hard as I could.
Robbie bravely grabbed the broom and started swinging with all her might at the creature, trying to guide him back outside. She was very brave. I again, shouted encouragement to her.
“Do it! Get him! Hurry up!”
Finally we saw the mutant bee fly back out of the garage and I quickly slammed the garage door shut. We stood in the middle of the garage trying to catch out breath.
“What the heck was that?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Robbie answered, still gripping the broom in her hand. “But I hope we never see one of those again.”
As we went back inside the house to recover you could hear me making a suggestion. “Maybe we should sell the house.”
I looked up the creature on my computer to find the giant bee was actually called a Cicada Killer. Yes, it kills Cicadas. So God created Cicadas and then he created a Cicada Killer. I’ll have to ask him about that when we’re in heaven. I have a list of questions, but this one will definitely be near the top.
We Christians also face a killer every day. He’s called the Joy Killer. The enemy wants nothing better than to kill, steal and destroy the joy that Christ died on the cross to give us. Why? Because the “joy of the Lord is our strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV). If we lose our joy, then we lose our strength. If we lose our strength, then we are at the mercy of the enemy.
So often we let life events send us helplessly running away, waving our arms and screaming or just simply throwing up our hands and giving up the battle. This is exactly what Satan wants us to do. He’s standing to the side yelling, “Kill the joy! Make them feel trapped with no way out!”
Our job is to remember that no matter what we’re facing in life, the source of our joy is Christ and no one can take that from us. It can only be given away. Don’t give in to the Joy Killer. You can’t just depend on your mood on any given day or let your circumstances or emotions determine your level of joy. Remember, you have to choose joy every day. Yes, it’s a choice. So choose wisely. Oh, and keep the broom handy. You never know when you’re going to need it.