WHAT WAS YOUR DEFINING MOMENT?

"Whoso Pulleth Out the Sword of the Stone and Anvil,
is Rightwise King Born of All England."
(T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone)

Our films and books are rife with defining moments, that moment in time when one reality passes and something new emerges. For Bruce Wayne, it was the death of his parents that transformed him into the Batman. For Gandalf, the wizard in Tolkein’s classic The Lord of the Rings, it was standing toe-to-toe with the maleficent Balrog, when he changed from “the Grey,” to “the White.” For the youngest son in the line of Jesse, it was picking up five smooth stones to fell the great giant Goliath.

But perhaps no defining moment has been told and re-told, as many times as King Arthur, when he drew the sword from the stone. In the span of a heartbeat he went from being a commoner to High King of all England, and whether fact or fiction, the legend set in stone the ideal and noble standard for all of Western civilization.

Many of you have had defining moments. Character transformations born out of grief, abuse, and trauma, and those events forever shaped who you are today. They color every relationship in your life.

Let me ask this . . . when did you pull your sword from the stone? By that I mean, when did you take hold of your destiny as heir to the Throne of the Most High King and become an “heir according to promise” (Gal 3:29)? Was there that defining moment in your life when you turned it all over to the Messiah of Israel – the anointed One – and became not just a citizen of the everlasting kingdom, but an inheritor, a prince or a princess?

My friends, there could be no more noble plan than that, no intention more meaningful or delightful, ripe with promise and Providence! If you look back on your life and see a hurtful moment that forged who you are today, then you have not yet pulled your sword from the stone.

"The noble man devises noble plans and by noble plans he stands."