Sandals and a Stick: The Red Dragon is Afraid

Sunday, January 1, 2023

The Red Dragon is Afraid

There just might be a couple of unintended consequences of this first-of-the-year article.

You might, due to the weirdness presented, think that I had been up all night in celebration of 2023. I can assure you that this is not the case. I was unaware of the CNN missed countdown in the Central Time Zone until reading about it this morning.
It also might be on your mind that perhaps I am one year early based on the title. According to the Chinese calendar, the year of the dragon is scheduled for 2024.

I’ll start with the weirdness as I am quite finished with the Chinese references.

Listening to sermons this past week brought dragons front and center. I have decided that I would adopt the concept in an effort to keep myself on track for the upcoming 12 months. Not once, but twice, I heard Revelation 12 inserted into Christmas messages.

It started with a picture of a red dragon draped over a nativity scene. I had never heard of such a thing and if the truth be told, it was a bit repulsive. Maybe I'm just behind the times, but I could not (would not?) make the connection between this monster and the birth of Jesus.

I did find it interesting and somewhat comforting to be aware of the presented interpretation, however. As Jesus was born, evil was there to devour the Son of Man, according to Revelation 12. But Jesus was snatched away to heaven, safe from this demon. Apparently, the manifestation of evil was aware that this birth would change everything as God would destroy the serpent for all time through the incarnated Son of God.

Well, the sermons made it a bit simplistic, so I took to browsing the whole chapter. It's a difficult read - at least for me. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to understand John's visions in the Book of Revelation.

I am told how spectacular this book is and how central it can be to faith. That just goes to prove that I am light-years away from graduation. Literally, I can barely spend more than a few minutes at a time before concentration is replaced with a neurological imbalance exhibiting itself with a coma-like, catatonic stare.

Nevertheless, I am committed to a year of remembering that “The Red Dragon IS Afraid," as this is to be my Word/Phrase for 2023. I suspect I could also combine the phrase with a promise to spend more time in Revelation, but really, I would only be kidding myself.

I need to keep it simple.

For many of us, recent years have been difficult. We're always hoping that the first of January will usher in the promise of relief, prosperity, health, and well, better.

But looking around, I am feeling less hopeful than normal. I wonder how we solve the issues of polarization, separation, divisiveness, cancel culture, climate change, war, pandemics, mass shootings, and hatred.

This year, when these thoughts of despair intrude (and I know they will), I will remember the red dragon sitting on the roof of the stable just waiting for the opportunity to devour the Savior.

That monster wishes for me to live in fear. It wishes for me to be lost and hopeless. It rejoices when I become overwhelmed with worry. It celebrates my lack of freedom and my withdrawal from the works of love.

But as I remember the image of this uncomfortable nativity scene, I will rejoice in the birth of Jesus and the gifts of love and freedom presented to humanity in that humble scene. I will recognize that what's done is done and that now the future is bright. I will bring that image into my soul and look to Jesus because there, on top of that stable, the only fear to be found was in the heart of the dragon as the recognition of his demise was born to a virgin.