He's so big, I can't miss

The other night at Mass the reading was the story of King David, slaying the Giant Goliath as a young man. It is the classic story of the underdog. David was a young Shepherd boy, with really no ability to defeat this monster who even the great Israelite armies were unable to overcome. Jim Jordan, a Pro-Life activist who spoke at the March for Life in Washington DC today said, "Goliath challenged the Israelites everyday, but everyone said, 'He's too big we can't fight him.' But David's attitude was, 'I'll fight him, he's so big I can't miss'".

As I said at Mass the other night we all fight giants in our everyday lives. For some of us it's a person, for some it's a situation, or trying to overcome an addiction, or fighting with health issues, or the loss of a loved one. Each of us without exception are going to face a giant in life that we have to defeat. Maybe the big, maybe small. David shows a good example of how to defeat such a huge giant.

First he identifies Goliath. we have to be able to put a name to the giant. We have to know what we are fighting. The line from AA that is so often quoted, "My name is Joe, and I'm an alcoholic." Talk about identifying the giant!

He then draws on the knowledge that he has defeated previous giants. He keeps his sheep safe from attacking animals. If he could do that, he can do this!

Finally, he casts aside those who say he can't do it, and proves them wrong. Above all...he has faith in his God. This model is not one that died with Goliath, AA follows the same principle in it's 12 steps. The hardest part sometimes is not so much defeating the giant, sometimes it's in th every identifying of the problem that's so difficult. So often the thing we are trying to fight is a loosing battle because we aren't fighting the real giant!

One of my goals in 2010 is to quit smoking. That's a big giant. It looms over my thoughts, the drive to quit, and the fear of quitting. I've defeated alot of giants in my day, however this one remains the toughest. There are still other giants after this one, and someday pray God they will all be conquered.