I might give satan a swirlie

Hey. Hi. It’s been a minute since I have written anything. I’ve been sitting on this letter for a while. Been adding to it here and there but haven’t been compelled to post it. It didn’t feel finished until now. As we enter this new year I feel the need to have a battle cry. This is my anthem for the new year. This is my plea. Nothing will stand in my way. No man, no monster, no demon, no giant will take away from God’s plan for my life. No one can stop me not even satan. I pray you feel the same.

In my opinion, one of the greatest rap lines in existence comes from a song called All We Got by Chance The Rapper featuring Kanye West. The whole song is a vibe but there is one particular part that stands out to me the most when I listen to it.

“I get my word from the sermon

I do not talk to the serpent

That’s the holistic discernment

Daddy said I’m so determined

Told me these goodies can’t hurt me

I just might make me some earl tea

I was baptized like real early

I might give satan a swirlie”

I might give satan a swirlie. For those who might not know, a swirlie is defined by Urban Dictionary as a “form of torture/punishment in which the victim is held upside down over a toilet, with his head in the toilet bowl, while it is flushed.” A swirlie is a brutal punishment conducted by your typical bully that lurks in the halls of our local schools. With that being said, this story focuses on a bully that lurks in the halls of our lives. I want to focus on a bully we are all too familiar with. I want to talk about a bully that has caused chaos in our relationships, fear in our society, harm in our family, and battles in our minds. This is a bully that deserves a swirlie and much more. If we don’t tolerate bullies why do we allow ourselves to tolerate the biggest bully of them all?

I don’t have much experience with traditional bullies. My brother and I were homeschooled as kids and we attended a private Christian academy through high school. I'm not trying to say bullies didn’t exist there. They did. I’m sure my brother Levi would say he got bullied by me but that was just some normal brotherly love. With that being said, I’ve met and interacted with unkind kids but never found myself with my head in a toilet or anything close to that matter. I do remember a time when my brother and I were part of an after-school program. Some kid took my younger brother’s glasses right off his face. As the bigger brother, I was furious. I tackled the kid and got the glasses back. That is the only moment in my childhood I can remember standing up to someone who could be identified as a classic bully. Bullies are mean. They often have reasons for being mean but there are never any justifications for wrong actions. No father figure, poor home life, lack of friends, and the dilemma of missing encouragement and love are all factors and ingredients that create your day-to-day bully. Many bullies are the product of other bullies. No matter how a bully is formed, their actions are never justified. Simply put, hurt people hurt people.

Every bully has a story. Who is bullying you? Who is taking your joy away? Maybe look at their story first. There is probably a bully behind your bully. Dear reader, if you're facing any bullies, know that you can win the battle and you can do so unconventionally. Do something out of character. Love your enemy. Remember you are never a victim unless you identify as one. You can go ahead and take the L or position yourself to take the W. The choice is yours. Live a life in fear or live a life in love. I choose love. Stand up to your bullies but do it in a way that places you in love. Everyone has a Goliath but I challenge you to live like they can become a David. I’ll repeat that for the people in the back and even myself. Live like your Goliath can become a David. But Isaac that’s easier said than done. Sure. You are absolutely right. It’s hard. It’s painful. It’s difficult. But remember you are worth fighting for. Your enemy is worth fighting for. You matter and so do they. Who told you that you can’t conquer your giants? Who told you that you can’t win your battle? Let me guess, some bully? Maybe the biggest bully of them all? Maybe you have been a victim of an awful and unspeakable act and you see no redemption for yourself. Maybe you have never known what it feels like to be loved. Maybe you have never been embraced by your parents. Maybe you have been drowning in a pit of sorrow so deep the cold puddle of tears you sit in now feels oddly comfortable. Maybe the addiction you face is so hard to break you have just numbly accepted it. You have become numb to your self-harm and the harm of others. Maybe cancer seems so gripping that chemo doesn’t seem worth it. Maybe the miracle you have stormed heaven for is nowhere to be found. Nothing is changing. You think tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow you will change. Tomorrow you will climb out of the pit. Tomorrow your miracle will come. Tomorrow breakthrough will take place. But tomorrow comes and it never happens. Let me leave you with this thought to linger. Maybe you are your biggest bully.

I can’t help but think how Jesus was bullied almost entirely throughout his whole life. I especially think about him towards the end of his life and the unfathomable pain he went through. We read in Matthew 27: 15–26 on how a crowd stood and begged for Barabbas to be set free and for Jesus to be hung on the cross. Barabbas was guilty of murder. A criminal with no intentions of good throughout his entire being. A sinner of sinners. Yet, the people wanted Jesus to be mocked. They wanted to see him crucified, hung, and stripped away of his dignity. Stripped away from his life. They wanted Jesus murdered in place of Barabbas. They wanted this bully set free and Jesus put to death. We never read or hear about Barabbas after he is set free. One could assume his morals, character, and mindset never changed and he never repented. It is very likely that Barabbas sinned again and again after being set free. It is very likely that Barabbas lived a life full of sin and evil after receiving an unjustified, unexpected, and undeserving second chance. There is a good possibility that Barabbas is spending his eternity in hell after receiving the greatest and most undeserving gift of all. Then again, is this not a picture of us? Are we not a modern-day Barabbas? This is one of my favorite parts of the Bible because it truly shows the picture of the gospel in its rawest and purest forms. Jesus died for the wicked. He died for the sinners. He died for the undeserving, the forgotten, the lost, the lonely, the criminal, and the unwelcomed. He died for the world. He died for you. He died for me. He died for every single bully. He died for us to be set free even if it meant we would continue to live a life unchanged. He died for us even if it meant we would never live for Him.

There’s some kind of unspoken idea that bullies only exist in the walls of a classroom when in reality they are in our homes, churches, workplaces, and inner circles. We encounter them daily. They speak words of discouragement. They inflict physical and mental pain. They spit in our faces, push us around, mock us, and make us feel less than little. There is one bully in participator that makes his way into our lives knowingly and unknowingly. He has the ability to disguise and disgust. He can cause havoc, fear, pain, and anger. He can ruin our lives and bring us to our breaking points. The bullies of bullies really need no introduction or deserve one for that matter. Known as the serpent, satan makes his way into our lives without notice and without welcome. No matter how many locks you throw up on your doors, he manages a way to break in and invade. You try to hide but he masters the game of hide and seek. You try to run but he has the stamina of an Olympian. You try to fight but he has an army that seems unbeatable. He gathers his other bullies and rages war in your life and in your mind. You may have found yourself at some point in life receiving a swirlie from this bully. It’s time to repay the favor. I’m going to give satan a swirlie. I want you to do the same.

Is it just me or do you ever find yourself just accepting the circumstances you face? You have a relationship that is failing and you just sit back and tell yourself this sucks. You just lost your job and sit in disbelief to only accept the outcome. You have been given terrible news on your health or the health of a family or friend and you cry it out. You Deny it. But soon, you take the news for what it is. You have been facing a crippling addiction that seems impossible to break. You are in a financial pit with no rope to climb. You are facing a giant with no rocks and no slingshots. You are facing an army with no defense. You may be at the lowest point in your life and by now you have accepted this is it. You are wrong. This is just the beginning. Let’s turn the story around. I’m done with easily accepting these swirlies from satan. It’s time to give satan a swirlie. Better yet, it’s time to give him a black eye. It’s time to put him under our feet. It’s time to lock him up and throw away the key. I want to conquer giants just like David. No one can stop me, not even satan.

Defeat satan like there is no other option. Recently, I decided to learn how to skydive. Sorry, mom and dad. For a student diver, there are certain regulations and rules that have to be followed. Each jump has an objective, a learning exercise to move forward in the program. Your first priority when skydiving is to pull. No matter how you exit, no matter how stable you are in the sky, and no matter your body orientation, you must pull your shoot. This may sound incredibly simple, and to be completely honest, it is. However, new students are common to forget to pull their shoot. They get distracted, scared, and are overwhelmed by the fact that they are free-falling through the sky. They forget. They forget to do the one thing that matters most. They forget to pull. Student skydivers have instructors that jump with them and will often have to pull the students’ shoot for them. If that does not happen there is also a safety device that will automatically deploy the shoot at a certain altitude. However, skydiving is not a sport where you want to use and rely on your safety backup devices. With all of that being said, when I jump I have no other option but to pull. That’s the mindset. That’s the goal. Simple? Yes. Life-saving? Yes. Once I exit the plane there is no looking back. There is no other option but to continue the dive and do everything that I’ve been taught. When we think about conquering our giants in life we have to look at it as if there is no other option. There is no other option but to defeat satan. There is no other option but to give him the swirlie he deserves. That’s the mindset. That’s the way we have to act to defeat our battles. There is no other option. I will give satan a swirlie. I will defeat my battles. I will. Jesus will. Jesus did.

When I think about the bullies we face in life there is a common advantage they bring in the boxing ring. They have something many of us lack which gives them an edge. Their advantage stems from passion and emotion. Their power has been built from the darkest and rawest forms of emotion. Their power comes from years of abuse, anger, mistreatment, judgment, hate, and torture. They hate because they have a reason to hate. Almost every crime in the world has a motive. We can give reason after reason for how we feel. My life is a mess because of this. My relationship is failing because of this. My job sucks because of this. My family is breaking apart because of this. My faith is crumbling because of this. My life feels valueless because of this. You name the “this.” It looks different for every single person but I can guarantee there is something you are facing that seems like a daunting and unbeatable bully, but I need you to know that’s not the case. Before Jesus was crucified, He could have ended his suffering and pain at any second. He could have had an army of angels brought down to earth to save him (Matthew 26:53) but saving the world was his “this.” His pain, his trouble, his torture, his anguish, and the suffering that he faced was his bully. He was fighting for something. He was fighting for you. He was fighting for His greatest love. He had a premeditated motive. He was in a ring with the biggest bully of them all and He had no other option. Jesus hand-delivered satan with the biggest swirlie yet and Jesus wants you to do the same.

As we embark on a new year I challenge you to step into the ring with your boxing gloves strapped tight. You have been given the greatest gift known to man. You have been given a chance. We surround our living rooms each Sunday to watch a chance as our favorite teams fight for a win on the football field. I’m not talking about that type of chance though. You have been given the greatest chance of existence. You have been given the chance of salvation. You have been given the chance of life. You have the privilege to know Jesus as Father. You have been given the right to call God by his name, the name of Yahweh. You can choose to live a life without acknowledging your creator or you can live a life walking by faith and take a relationship with the one who loved you before you could love yourself. As you step into your ring, you are surrounded by your greatest fears. You are in a boxing ring with your biggest enemies. You are surrounded by death, lies, heartbreak, disappointment, addiction, and sin. As you take your stance and stare your demons in the eye, Jesus walks in. He takes the boxing gloves off your hands, and whispers into your ears, I got this. At this moment you realize your battles are won when you can surrender it all to Jesus. No one can carry the baggage you hold except for Him. Enter the new year with peace knowing Jesus already gave satan the swirlie at the cross. Embark on this new year giving Him praise and thanks for He is the reason we have a chance at this thing we call life. No one can stop us. Not even satan.

Sincerely,

Isaac Demers