Okay, so I'm not much of a "gamer", but I have a big brother who is. I can remember only a couple of years ago when "Call of Duty: Black Ops" was really popular and like, everyone was playing it. I would go visit my brother, Ed, after getting out of class and he'd usually be at our friend Mark's house playing the game over and over. I even tried my hand at it a few times. 😁 I admit it was pretty dope. 😎
Anyways, one day as they were playing, I was kind of just hanging back, watching and the characters in the game would speak to each other through the headsets. I heard one of them say "Stay Frosty!!" and I kind of wondered what the phrase meant. I mean, it wasn't snowing outside in the game, so I was just like, "what?". 🤔
Mind you, I have no military experience or affiliations whatsoever... unless of course, you include "The Army of the Lord!" #HUP 🙌🏾
LOL! Anyways, I asked my brother what it meant and he explained it as this: "a phrase that's used in the military to remind each other to stay on guard and READY at all times; to keep your hand on the weapon. It gets intense out there on the field and they can't afford to make mistakes due to a lack of paying attention! Everybody's lives are on the line and the object is for the mission to be accomplished and for them all to come out ALIVE!"
Now y'all KNOW that thing preached me happy!!! I could shout right now just thinking about how good that is! I saw it like this:
WE are the military.
THE MISSION is to counter the attacks of the enemy.
OUR WEAPONS are PRAYER, FASTING, PRAISE, WORSHIP, THE WORD, THE BLOOD and the name of JESUS.
But the problem is that we keep letting our guard down!!! We get tired, we get weary, we don't pay attention and we unintentionally leave cracks open for the enemy to burst through!
We never know when or how the enemy is planning to attack. He's clearly out to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10 NLT) and of course, he'll never win. However, the more guarded we are against him, the less impact he will have here on earth.
Man, we gotta "Stay Frosty!!" It says it right here in the Bible:
"Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." - 1 Peter 5:8 NLT
I just HAD to show y'all The Message Bible Version of this same scripture:
It says, "Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping."
WOW! Just WOW! ....
I was wondering how to end this blog as I was writing it on Tuesday... Not knowing that on Wednesday I would go through a situation where I needed to take my own advice.
You would never guess that this past Wednesday night I was Stage 1 sexually assaulted and harassed.
I don't even feel very comfortable saying it, but my prayer is that it will remind you to ALWAYS be on guard, spiritually as well as naturally.
Long story short, I was headed to meet my church family at the Amway Arena for the Detroit Pistons vs Orlando Magic's game. The game started at 7pm and I was scheduled to carpool with my sister, but my hair appointment ran late (as always 🙄). So I ended up having to park and walk in by myself. I utterly hated the idea, but I felt like I just had to do what I had to do since I was the one running late.
Anyways, this guy with a bright yellow "parking" jacket was flagging people into a lot nearby the arena for only $10. It was broad daylight and I saw another car with a family pull into it right before me. So I figured it'd be cool, no big deal.
However, once I bent the curve, I saw that there was another three to four guys hanging nearby it as well. Young adult, black, hood, etc. I knew it was a little sketchy, but I was rushing, plus there was another family getting out of their car and like I said, it was BROAD DAYLIGHT.
I was trying to finish my makeup and got out only about 30 seconds after that other family, but it ended up with my being pretty much alone for that moment.
"I'm good, though. I got this. I'm just gonna walk very fast towards the arena. I can just ignore the guys, make no eye contact and keep it moving. I'll be fine."
I got out of my car, locked it & I'm pretty sure I dropped my keys into my backpack (which was NOT smart because my pepper spray was on it). I was FaceTiming a guy friend, so I thought I was good... ("If anything happens to me, he's right here, he can protect me through the phone some kind of way, right?! 🤔") Low and behold, I was good and wrong. Here comes trouble... 😒
Two of the guys approached me. One of them was just asking about the money for the parking, but the other one was cat-calling me like I was a juicy piece of meat. I expected it, but I didn't expect him to approach so invasively into my personal space.
"Aye, Aye, AYE!!!", he said. As he got louder, I had no choice, but to acknowledge him. I didn't want it to get ugly. I turned around, but was still trying to walk briskly towards safety.
Without replaying every detail and raising my blood pressure... I'll just say that he asked for my number, asked for a hug and a bunch of other insane requests. As I continued to turn him down, he continued to approach. Therefore, grazing my cheek with his lips and grabbing my behind with his hand while murmuring those same vulgar comments.
Of course I was shoving him and firmly saying to STOP, but unfortunately, to my disadvantage... I stand five feet tall and no one was around to help.
He walked away after that, but along with it walked my dignity as I had just been publicly violated in front of his friends and all of the Heavenly hosts that seemed to have done nothing. 😔
All I knew to do was walk faster and faster instead of trying to get back to my car and I eventually caught up to some people who were walking down the sidewalk, but WOW! Just WOW! ....
I wondered for a while what I could have done differently and for starters, I could've left that lot ($10 less, but SAFE) having foreseen trouble. I could've hung up with my guy friend so that I could have been FULLY aware of my surroundings vs just trying to ignore the environment that I was in and by regaining focus, I probably would've remembered the giant pink pepper spray I had and dispersed it at my defense.
Of course, in that moment, I was outnumbered by far and had to carefully play my hand. Had I played the pepper spray card, the other guys nearby may have tried to jump, rape or even kidnap me. So it was just all really sensitive and happened really fast.
Either way, I didn't just tell you this story for you to feel sorry for me. I've prayed, forgiven his STUPIDITY, thanked God even in the midst of it, and learned my lesson! I said it so that we will all be reminded to take the Word of God to heart. God's instructions are VERY relevant!!! He's not going to tell us stuff 2000+ years ago that we won't need in this world, today. Everything God says is relevant and His Word has CRUCIAL instructions for us to follow in order to make it through this life.
Again, He said to "Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping." (1 Peter 5:8 MSG)
I kind of wondered how come God didn't just protect me completely from them? How come He didn't make me invisible or just flash freeze there bodies, or even superimpose a giant warrior Angel into the natural realm so that they could know I wasn't alone... but God didn't do that because some things in this life we are not exempt from! And while I was still a little upset, God reminded me that even though I ignored His nudge (cause I saw that it was a sketchy setup)... His grace STILL covered me because it could have played out MUCH worse.
Either way, us believers do have work to do. We always have the upper hand on the enemy, but what good is it if we don't use the advantage we have?!
Exactly. It's NO good.
Next week, I'm pretty sure I'm going to dive more in detail on HOW we can protect ourselves. But for now, just Stay Frosty!
“The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.” - Proverbs 14:16 NLT
Look for Call of Duty: "Stay Strapped!" next Friday. Same place, same time.
Love you guys!