The only thing greater than the desire to win is the desire to plan to win.
Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” is based on the consistent narrative found in all great stories, myths, legends, and theology throughout the ages.
THE HERO’S JOURNEY
- The woman or man is drawn by a calling or call to adventure
- Leaves their place of comfort and safety
- Goes out into the world
- Finds a mentor
- Faces and defeats their Goliath
- Is re-born as the hero
Let’s talk about Goliath from the Bible for a moment. He was over nine feet tall (and about five hundred–plus pounds). He wore a bronze helmet on his huge head and donned a coat of scale armor weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft had an iron point that weighed six hundred shekels. Translating shekels into pounds; all in all, this behemoth carried three hundred pounds of armor and weaponry into battle, for a total weight of approximately eight hundred pounds.
Goliath was the world’s first undefeated heavyweight champion. Wanting to bring victory to God’s army and knowing the incredible draw a fight with the champ Goliath would bring, King Saul did everything he could to find a contender. In an effort to encourage willing opponents, Saul offered the man who killed Goliath great wealth, tax exemption, and even his daughter – which makes the winner a prince. Arranged marriage aside, a hero in this story is allotted a max contract like few have seen in any sport, celebrity, or corporation today.
Although David was only a lightweight, he was chosen by God as the number one contender to take on the heavyweight champ. While this match took place way before cable or pay-per-view existed, the Bible does a good job of covering the bout.
The line on the fight had David as a 10,000:1 underdog. But what the line did not know was that God does not choose underdogs; David had been both preparing and being prepared. Earlier previews of David’s life show that David tended sheep. This seems anemic enough, but these were tough, wilderness times. A sheep tender regularly faced fierce monsters. David recounts to Saul how he had confronted more difficult opponents than Goliath in the past in fighting both lions and bears when they came after his sheep. According to David, if one of these predators attacked the flock, he would strike the animal and take the sheep out of its mouth. If the beast turned on him, he grabbed it by the hair and killed it.
What?! David was a bad man. He’s like a cross between real people like Mike Tyson and a Navy Seal with part fake people like Wolverine and Batman.
While Goliath’s strategic war plan was to use the same tactics he had always used to defeat mere men and trained to win against much smaller opponents; David’s strategic plan was to utilize tactics, skills, and weapons he had used to defeat vicious, wild animals much bigger than him and radically more dangerous than a man – even Goliath.
As a result of his superior planning and training with a tool that could kill an enemy at 200 yards, David the lightweight knocked out the heavyweight Goliath in the first round – with one punch (rock).
God picks winners. Following his big win, David continued to go through trials and tribulations brought on him by his enemies—and even by his own mistakes. While most people would allow this kind of stress to crush them, David used these challenges to plan for the more important tasks that lay ahead. God knew David would endure and plan. That is why He chose a sheepherder from among all the warriors and princes of Israel to be king.
You have your own Goliaths to fight and in fact; we’re all fighting a fierce giant today. Societal, governmental, economic, health, and corporate leaders agree that this is perhaps the most difficult time in history. Yet, we can also consider it as part of our hero’s journey. You can’t be a hero without the Goliath, the dragon, or demon you have to both battle and conquer.
At the same token without the planning, the mentorship, preparation, strategy, trained skills, and tactics designed to fight a bigger foe than you were fighting in 2019 prior to Covid, you may struggle or never overcome the odds. Fall in love with planning and preparing.
Have fun saving the world
Dr. Ben
