Morning Musings in the air.

"Life" I breathed, taking my first sip of coffee. It was before 5am, and I had spent too long in line for security for a random Wednesday morning in early November.


Strangers in the airport speak to one another during a shared experience, like a longer than expected security line. Two ladies with the same destination as me offered to let me follow them to the gate. A ind gesture for 4:30am, pre-coffee humans. They even wait for me as I get my shoes on after security.


"Right here? Right here? Right here? Right here?" repeated the small girl as she walked with her father past every single seat on the aircraft.

"I think you're in my seat," says the lady in front of me to the gentleman in her seat. He laughs comfortably at his mistake, as do the people around him.

The last passenger in our row appears: window seat. She apologizes profusely. The gentleman on the aisle is as kind as can be as we both move to let her in.

People smile. Everyone is surprisingly cheerful for so early in the morning.

The two sisters behind me, traveling with their kids, are chagrined as the two-year-old on and off screams his way through the flight. When we land, she books it for the door, leaving her sister to get the rest of the kids and all of their bags. Both ladies apologize for the noise. You can tell people are not thrilled, but are still very patient and everyone is kind.

What's Your Strategy?

How do you shun evils? What's the strategy?

First, as I often do, I'm gonna give you a dictionary definition.

Shun: Persistently avoid, ignore or reject.

I don't know about you, but avoid, ignore, and reject all have different meanings to me. But I have used all 3 to "shun" evils.

I'm gonna start with ignore. That is the worst. I ignore my evils a lot. Just turn my head away either letting them take hold of me, or ignore them and they leave me alone. That's not shunning.

How about avoiding? Similar. But could be stronger and necessary. If you know you're going to punch that person if you're around them, avoiding them is a good strategy. Avoiding situations where you might fall into evil is a good start.

And then there's rejecting. That's also an important step. Seeing or thinking something and rejecting it before it gets you is very important.

But what about fighting evils? I used to always have an image of actually fighting against evil and falsity. With a sword. Like Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.

That's important. Fight the thing. Keep those evils at bay.

But in temptation that doesn't mean you stay talking to the person you want to punch. That isn't necessarily the right path.  Staying in combat isn't going to help.

I also have an image of slamming the door on evils. Is that shunning them? Sometimes that feels like ignoring them or avoiding the problem. So what is the balance? You can't simply run away, and you also shouldn't stay and fight.

I think I'm finally finding a satisfactory solution for myself.

I look at the evils banging on the door, I shout "NO!" and then run like hell. Or rather, run from hell!

We need both.

Acknowledge the evil. Tell it to get the hell out because it's a sin against the Lord and then RUN!

If it's possible I literally say it out loud: "I will not because it is a sin against the Lord!"

But I don't have to sit there and watch them to see if they're still going to come at me after that, because the answer is yes. Shouting at them won't stop them. Cause if you shout that you won't cause it's a sin, they'll shout back "Actually, in this case it's not. It's okay this time!"

So get out of there. Say no and run. This balance has worked for me like other things haven't. I've felt guilty for running away cause it feels like avoidance. And I've felt bad for staying and fighting cause guess who wins when I face them alone? But if I shout for my army of angels to defend me and I run away, the angels will stay and fight for me.


"Stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which He will do for you today. Jehovah shall fight for you, and you shall be silent." Exodus 14:12-14