Our Everyday Battle

Last Saturday, July 1, I planned to leave my house by 8am to head down to Richmond for FCA’s University of Richmond multi-sport camp.  My role for this camp, like Watermarks Leadership Camp, was Huddle Leader Coordinator, which meant I was traveling down to Richmond a couple of days before the rest of the staff to train and encourage our huddle leaders for the camp.  I knew I was picking up two huddle leaders along the way, in Manassas and Fredericksburg, and was concerned about 4^th of July traffic heading South, so when I was ready at 7:40am, I decided to go ahead and leave then.  One problem: I couldn’t find my keys. 

Let me clarify by saying this never happens.  I am not one of those people who misplaces her keys all of the time and has to go digging through the trash to find them on occasion.  My keys only ever travel to a few different places: my purse, gym bag, backpack, or dresser.  I knew they had to be in my house somewhere, because I had driven home from hanging out with a friend around 10:00 the night before and my car was locked.  I started by checking all of my typical spots, but when I couldn’t find them there, I began to get frustrated.  After saying a quick prayer that I’d be able to find the keys quickly, I continued to search my room high and low.  I quickly searched my suitcase, wondering if I’d accidentally dropped them in there, but still no luck.  By this point, my twenty minute head start had faded away and now I was beginning to panic about being late, knowing the traffic on 95-South was only building.  Finally, I found the master key (the one without the key-fob) in my vehicle maintenance folder in my desk drawer and decided to just leave with that. 

As expected, traffic was awful and it ended up taking nearly four and a half hours to get to the University of Richmond (a drive that should only take two and a half hours).  Needless to say, between the lost keys and traffic, by the time we finally arrived on campus my anxiety had skyrocketed.  Thankfully, the busyness of our training schedule quickly distracted me and since I barely moved my car the entire week from the Student Activities Center parking lot, I was able to forget about my lost keys for the most part.  When I finally arrived home late Friday afternoon, I searched my room again before starting the fun unpacking process.  I still hadn’t had any luck when I decided to take a break to run to the grocery store and eat dinner.  I finally found the elusive keys Friday night in the laptop sleeve of my FCA backpack.  I guess when I tossed them into the backpack a week earlier, they had slipped into that compartment and, since I never put them there, I didn’t bother to check it. 

So why am I sharing this lengthy story about a set of lost keys?  After all, everyone loses their keys from time to time.  It’s just a coincidence that it happened right as I was leaving for this FCA camp for the week, right?  Maybe.  But I also believe we are fighting a battle everyday against a cunning enemy who knows exactly how to mess with us (Ephesians 6:12).  This enemy hates Jesus and will stop at nothing to have us take our eyes off of Him or prevent the sharing of the gospel, even having an FCA staff member misplace her keys.  Thankfully, spare keys exist, the Good News of Jesus Christ was shared last week, and many hearts were changed for eternity as a result.  John 16:33 warns us that we will face trials in this life, whether significant struggles like the loss of a loved one or trivial things like losing our keys.  But Jesus encourages us in this verse that He has already overcome the world.  There is no other name who can guarantee that!