I had a dream last night I was being chased by King Kong.  No matter where I went (window, hallway, or door) I could not evade those wrinkled, opposable digits and grappling ape hands.  While inside my house I was relatively safe, but when King Kong has your house under siege, how safe are you really?

Right before he could scoop me up, I awoke to stillness, saying:

"China."

Weird, huh?  Let the psycho-analysis begin.  I think the reason for this dream was because I was talking with my friend recently about our family's future in China.  For most of us the future is pretty iffy at best, but for foreigners living in China it is nebulous x 10.  When you get right down to it, you feel just like a teeny-tiny dust puppet standing in the palm of a giant.  I guess I must be feeling like I can't escape it or something.

Let's use this metaphorical Kong for further discussion.  Sometimes I see this bohemoth primate dangling me from the top of the Empire State building. He lets go and I fall from those great heights.  In split-seconds of honesty, as I am plummeting to certain doom, I can hear a peaceful voice in my head whisper, "Thank god."  This daydream is the lulling temptation of resignation.

But in an alternate version (the director's cut maybe), I don't let go.  Even though KK tries to jettison me like an unwanted banana peel, I turn and cling to his hairy wrists.  Like a belligerent hitchhiker weed I won't get off of his corduroys.  As byplanes buzz his head like annoying gnats, as he roars and flails his muscular monkey arms, I cling to Kong for dear life.  If I were sexier I'd try to woo him over, but I'm no Jessica Lang.  What I lack in looks though I make up for in stupid determination.  It's the will in me.  I can't give up.

And that's been the theme of the week I guess.  Don't give up.  Don't let go.  Persevere.  You know how sometimes you get little cues and signs like that.  Well, this week, the Todd-specific public service announcement that keeps popping up is just that–don't give up, don't tap out, rescue is coming.  Whether it's the new X-Files movie I watched or the novel I'm reading or my crazy monkey dreams, there is definitely a subtle theme, a motif, a subliminal message here.  I think it's hope.  The capital H kind. Hope.  The task ahead of you might look daunting and wild, but there are good reasons to be hopeful.  Namely, the God we serve can handle our fears.  Our God is a great big God, right?  Way bigger than the Kong of our circumstances. 

So don't give up. 

Even when there's a big monkey on your back.

(I can't believe I just wrote 'the Kong of our circumstances'–that's so cheesy I should get a job writing devotionals for Our Daily Bread.)