We have all heard of ships and
aircraft disappearing within the Bermuda Triangle. The Devil’s Triangle, as it is sometimes
called, is located off the southeastern coast of the United States in the
Atlantic Ocean, with its apexes in the vicinities of Bermuda, Miami, and San
Juan. It covers approximately a half-a-million square miles, but there is obvious
disagreement over the actual area.
If the triangle is truly dangerous
water for shipping and cruising, why do commercial vessels continue to sail
those mysterious waters on a routine basis? When Beverly and I go on a cruise
we have never signed a disappearance disclaimer. As far as pirates are concerned,
none have been known to have sailed in those waters since the 18th
century. Why do commercial airliners continue to have flights to various points
in the Caribbean? Ever heard of a commercial flight suddenly vanishing off the
radar in those waters? The only dangerous threat is turbulent weather patterns
because it is also known as hurricane alley.
There is another set of three
coordinates that doesn’t gain national attention, but many households are fully
aware of its existence and the “trouble” it causes to marriages; it is called
the Sock Triangle. The coordinates are the clothes hamper, the dryer, and the clothes
drawers. The size of the area may vary according to the house. Over the years
within that dynamic area, my socks have vanished without a trace! I thought of
magnetizing the “left behind” socks to the refrigerator door, but it would look
tacky (kind of Christmassy) and kind of weird. Some socks are still MIA. I know there are no socks in heaven
so it has to be human error.
Now mind you; I have reported these
disappearances to the lady of the house, but there have been repeated official denials
of any knowledge of stray socks or even culpability in the matter! And yet,
reports of missing socks continue to mount. Could aliens be abducting my socks?
And why are there never any reports of any missing pairs of socks?
Does the Sock Triangle really exist? You
know it does! I have threatened to wear one sock and leave the other foot
bear in protest but to no avail. But I suspect these missing socks have nothing
to do with any flux variations of the earth’s magnetic fields, Atlantis energy
crystals interfering with aviation and nautical electronics, a portal for
interplanetary/interdimensional travel by alien creatures, government testing
for reverse-engineered alien technology, a time vortex, or whatever people
speculate is going on within the Bermuda Triangle or the mysterious forces at
play in the Sock Triangle.
Recently, there were six unmated socks
in my sock drawer that I kept in the event the other mate suddenly surfaced
from the Sock Triangle, a rare and celebratory event. With my sock drawer
overflowing, I finally decided to throw away the six socks missing a mate along
with some other worn-out socks to make room for the new ones. These socks were
practically brand new that had disappeared months ago in the Sock Triangle; I
had given up hope, not that I mourned for any. A week later Beverly threw six new-found socks across the bed that had been lost in the Sock Triangle! She had this attitude
of, “I really don’t know what your problem is?!” Naturally, she blamed me for
putting them in her drawer as to
explain why they were missing all this time.
Though an explanation can be found in
the disappearance of some missing socks, for others that entered the Sock
Triangle, there is no explanation of their disappearance; it remains a mystery
to this day. Were electrostatic forces at work here? Were socks being tucked
away, unwittingly, in the folds of other things? I know Beverly won’t ever come
clean, and in case you don’t know; she is a blonde. With the tragic loss of six
costly pairs of young socks (Only the good die young, right?), we both agreed
it was time for a sock bag, one for color and one for white. There have been no
further mysterious disappearances of any socks from within the Sock Triangle
since then.
What do the Bermuda Triangle and the
Sock Triangle have to do with anything spiritual? Absolutely nothing, except dealing
with three points and everything in between like our spiritual situation which
is very real, ever-threatening, and has graver consequences. Spiritually
speaking, there is another set of three things involving confrontation and
conflict as believers attempt to live for the Lord. There are no disappearances
to deal with like the other two triangles of going off the radar unless someone
decides to be unfaithful to God and backslide. There is a systemic problem with
all three that plagues every believer’s ability to worship and serve the LORD –
sin.
Those areas in particular are our sinful nature (or the flesh), the world system (organized opposition to all things God),
and Satan and his demons. As believers, we are all engaged in a great spiritual
warfare waged on the above three fronts. It’s global in its outreach,
encompassing every longitude and latitude on the surface of the earth,
including under the water, in the air, or in outer space. Anywhere and
everywhere we turn we are engaged or around some spiritual conflict. I am
thankful I cannot see demons any more than I can see germs, only their handiwork.
There are never any treaties signed,
no peace accords struck with these three, and there is no place on earth that has neutrality, regardless of the beauty of the landscape. All that we have come to
know and realize from these enemies of the soul is that they are opposed to all
things related to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, that
would include us (Jn 15:19, 20, 21; 1 Jn 2:15, 16, 17)!
Now before I proceed, it is good to be
reminded that we can’t blame our spiritual failures on circumstances, only on
our choices; it’s called living by faith and taking responsibility for personal
sin. We may find a brief reprieve from Satan and the world system, but we take
our sinful nature with us everywhere we go.
Even when God made a hedge around Job, his family, and his possessions (Job 1:10), they still had to contend with their sinful
nature (cf. Job 1:5). Like us, Job had to deal with spiritual warfare waged
on three fronts as well, coming from within (the flesh) and without (Satan and
the world system). This spiritual war is as ugly as it gets as we would expect
from the byproducts of war in the physical realm. <><
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