Early this morning—earlier than remotely humane—the bedside phone rang, waking me and Valerie. OK, I was somewhat awake, but the phone! Not right. And I didn’t have my glasses on so couldn’t identify the caller. I will take note in future, maybe sleeping with them.

So, a bit fuzzy of mind, I answered and heard the tell-tale pause, then a very insincere voice: “Dear customer, your credit card has been used this morning…” I of course hung up, and lay there pondering the injustice of some malefactor having a free shot into my life at any time of the day. But what are my choices? I suppose getting rid of the land line and turning off our cell phones is one answer. But why should we let some unidentified (insert your favorite word here) control our life? Why indeed.

Is it nobler to take up arms against our sea of trouble or simply suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune as they some at us? I would be open to suggestions. Email me, please if you have a thought about this.

Coincidentally, or not, I have also been asking the Source of all my being what gives? I am retired and should be settling into that idyllic state where there are only day by day joys. So how come? It seems I fight off a host of slings and arrows on a daily basis and I want to say here and now to anyone who cares, that it just should not happen. I am waiting. I am also reading Job in my routine passage through scripture, so there’s that.

But it’s not the trials of Job, or his calamitous complaint that governs my thought. It’s more on the line of “flaming arrows” which the apostle Paul wrote about in Ephesians. He reminded his readers that their struggle is not with flesh and blood folks like him. We err greatly when we take out our frustration on the people around us, forgetting they are not the real source of our troubles. The source of  misery is the spiritual attack that comes at us from our spiritual enemy. His attacks are sneaky and aimed at where are current vulnerabilities lie. It’s totally unfair and completely outrageous. Worse than telephone scammers, and no one is exempt.

The defense? Faith. The shield of faith to be precise. Or restated, using faith as our shield. Fine, but how does that work? My answer that has become my go-to position is to pray Jesus’ words first thing in the morning, particularly this part of his prayer: lead me not into temptation and deliver me from evil. How I understand this is like asking your bestie to watch your backside while you face forward into the day. “Please alert me if there’s a sneak attack coming. And above all, if it does come, show me the response I need.” Thanks, and amen.

The rest of the prayer is to remind myself and recommit to do the right thing today. Do the right thing especially in those situations closest to me—my family and friends. Don’t be a jerk, don’t be selfish, listen before I speak. That sort of thing. Sometimes I even succeed. Then at night, say thanks nothing worse happened and make amends for the ways I maybe did not succeed.

A few months ago, a man came up to me in church, and more or less out of the blue, said, “Harold, remember that the things we fear rarely happen. After all no one knows how things are going to turn out do they?” I was dumbfounded. How in the world did this fellow know I was being roasted internally, worrying about a scenario which I had cooked up in my mind?  I had made a stupid decision and was worried that the worst possible outcome was imminent. It turns out he was right. My worst fears did not materialize and I wasted a whole lot of time fussing about something that as it turned out, I could easily rectify. Flaming arrows left their wounds. And I am glad. It was a huge object lesson to me.  I just hope I remember it for the rest of the day.