The Righteous Indignation Of Moses...

I can remember a sixteen year old.  Devoted to God and all that came with such devotion.  He would stand up alone if he had to change things he knew were wrong...and it would always cost him.

He fondly remembers the fellowship of a choir, anointed by the Spirit.  Not because of the sweet sounds they were endowed with but because every rehearsal had turned into a "one step closer to God" session and God, as a result, found favor with every performance.  They sang for Him and to Him alone.  God visited every song with grace.  He can vividly remember the first note of "Amazing Grace" flowing like water upon the masses and God's anointing producing inevitable success.  Success that would soon fuel the foolish pride of all those involved.

This sixteen year old and a few dear friends saw the peril of it and thought to speak out in an open meeting.  Before the meeting, he counted the heads of the brave and found them few but he went ahead anyway.  He stood up in a meeting of about 40 and voiced his concern only to be ridiculed and challenged by the leader.  When asked, "Is there anyone else that agrees with you?", he said yes but would not point them out.  The leader challenged the group directly and asked "Who else agrees with him?!?!"  The young man only said "To stand or not...it's up to them".  The young man could see peripherally his very dear friend who just minutes prior had said would back him up...lower his head in fear and shame.  The young man left the choir that day and dusted his feet in protest.  He knew that in most things, he would only have God's backing...and although it may be lonely at times, it would be enough.

The following week's meeting produced several more like him.  He would hear that they stood up one by one to voice their concerns.  That the desire to grow in number and fame was taking the place of the silent fellowship they had developed with the Creator that made it all possible.  The leader would not listen and in time, the choir would disband.  The young man would take no pleasure in being right.  He was only grieved that the warnings were never heeded and the hurt he felt that day would fester throughout his life.

He would face several trials like this.  He would challenge authority when no one else would and at 34, it all came full circle.  He was commissioned to go to Bahrain as a "Person In Charge" on board several dredging vessels.  It was a figurehead position but he didn't take it lightly.  He went to work just as he had on all the other vessels he had worked on.  Yet he began to see injustice all around him.  The Filipinos, the Africans and the Indians would work like slaves for a fifth of the pay the American workers earned.  They were housed like cattle in rooms while the Americans all had flats in the major cities.  It was a disgrace.  He befriended most of the crew and when it came time to rectify a small matter for one of the hardest working Filipinos there, he was told it wasn't any of his business and he should keep quiet.  He heard it directly from the big boss himself.  The man gloated about the fact he could fire and treat these workers anyway he wanted without account.  The man quietly seethed inside and for the rest of his time there...he would openly rebel.

He flaunted his friendships and freedom among the "bigs".  He would go out every night and show up whenever he felt like it.  The crew protected him as much as they could...something else he would revel in.  Eventually, the big boss tried to make his stay there miserable and the man just responded with a dismissive chuckle.  Here was someone that wasn't afraid of him.  Here was someone that scoffed at his nickname "terminator" and there was shit all "terminator" could do about it.  He needed his figurehead.  This would finally end once need of him was over and that's when the blowup happened.  No one really knew what fueled his rebellion but he had to make a point to everyone.  Your dignity is worth more than a paycheck...as is your manhood.

They met one night on the bridge of a ship.  Big boss thought it prudent to threaten the man with a finger pointed at his face and the man lost it.  All he could see was big boss's blood on his hands and in controlled anger, he told big boss all that needed saying.  Going so far as to call big boss a piece of shit to his face for thinking he was god in a foreign land.  Again, the leader wouldn't listen.  This "terminator" fearfully stood behind a few men and arranged the man's flight home.  Later, the man would come to find out that his friend, that had been treated like garbage as well, was received like a dignitary on his return trip to Bahrain.  Meals, a driver and freedom were at his disposal.  They couldn't afford another loss so they treated him like the king he was.  The man told his friend what happened and his friend, rightfully milked it for all it was worth.  His friend told him that witnesses had said they really thought they were about to witness a murder.  No people, I stand true to my words...self control measures a man's worth.  Moses...is worth a lot.

In time, big boss was demoted to a desk job and many that oversaw the garbage that went on were sent home without pay.  And so it went...full circle.

Years later, it still haunts him.  Resentment in a cocktail of righteous indignation fuels his desire to return with rank and wisdom.  Just as Moses returned to Egypt in the office of the Prophet, this Moses has a keen focus to return in an office he has been carved out into.  This is not about a dream...it is about purpose and design...

Watch me...

~Apollo