Over a holiday break last year I had some free time to watch some movies with my wife. I am not usually a movie watcher, it seems I always have something better to do, but there were some old black and white ones on that involved submarines! Being a sucker for an old WWII sub movie, I found myself watching "Run Silent, Run Deep". At one point in the movi,. they mention tying a broomstick to the conning tower of the sub. It is so casual a remark that you could easily miss it. Also, they never explain -why- you might want to tie a broom to the highest point of the sub or what it might signify. It's almost as if the audience of a 1940ish movie would understand the reference without any help.

Navy men are a very superstitious lot. They do a lot of things by tradition, too. I will tell you what that golden yellow com broom represents. It represents a "clean sweep over the enemy." Now, those of us who follow sports know that when you "sweep" someone it means complete victory. For instance, when the hated NY Yankees come into Fenway Park and play a weekend stand with the Red Sox, a three game series, and the evil Yankees get beaten three out of three games, the news will say "Sox Sweep Yanks".

I suppose you might think that some sportswriter somewhere invented the term and the Navy simply borrowed the saying. Well, not this time. Back in the 1600's, when England ruled the waves, they were called upon to prove it. Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp put to sea with an armada, and put a broomstick up there to declare his intention of "sweeping the seas" of the English warships. Ultimately he lost, but what a fight he gave them! You could say he really went out looking for trouble.

I think the bible teaches us to not only resist the devil and to avoid him, but sometimes we are expected to look for him and to fight him, as well. Think about that for a minute. Suppose I knew the devil was in my house, say just in the basement. Am I supposed to just go on ignoring him and using the rest of my house? Or should I get down there and confront him and throw him out? If your house is your life, bow much of it are you going to let the devil control? And if you don't get rid of him, what will happen when he starts to weaken your foundation? (Besides, if you think he's going to be happy just staying down in that basement or confined to one small part of your life, who are you kiddin '?)

Why do you suppose Paul tells us to examine ourselves before taking the Lord's Supper? Isn't it to make sure that we haven't allowed ourselves to be polluted, and that we do it in the proper way? What exactly (or who?) are we looking for? And where are we looking?

We are supposed to be carrying a sword around, too. Is it just a paperweight? Or is it for some other reason? The same passage that talks about that sword, which is the word of God, also talks about praying and watching. Watching for what? Watching while the devil takes over your life; or watching for the devil so you can fight him off?

Sure is a lot of fighting going on around here. Notice where it happens, though. We are to examine ourselves. We need to get the devil out of our lives. I am not suggesting you go to the devil's ground and fight him there, any more than I am suggesting you start drinking and gambling and then try to overcome him. If you go looking for the devil outside your life, you will find him everywhere you look, and he's strong. Don't go looking for trouble needlessly. It's inside your own life that you need to go after him with a club. Or, more precisely, a sword. Inside your own life, you can beat him. There is one place I'd like to see the devil, actually. Right in front of that broom, as a pile of dirt, as we sweep him right out of our lives.



Randy