I Send You Out Among Wolves

Jesus said to his disciples, “I send you out among wolves.”

When you go into the world to do your thing, whatever it is you do, you are being let loose among wolves. How do they work?

1. They hunt their prey in packs.
2. They look for a weakness in their prey.
3. They stalk their prey until the weakness is exposed.
4. They take down their prey.

In other words:

1. There are people out there who will gang up on you. If one jerk can find another jerk to agree with him against you, that’s a pack.
2. They will study you until they find a weakness.
3. They will pick at this weakness, disregarding any good you might be doing.
4. They will stalk this weakness until you despair and surrender to their teeth.

Not everyone is a wolf. But they are out there. It doesn’t matter what their religious beliefs or lack of them are. They can be Christians, Buddhists, Atheists… whatever. Wolves come in all kinds of clothing. Like every other week, I’ve suffered nasty attacks from believers and nonbelievers just this week alone. There’s lots of anger and nastiness out there. And it gets exposed when you are trying to do something different in this world.

So what do you do?

1. Form your own pack. Find positive people who encourage and support you.
2. Admit your weakness to yourself first so you are not caught off guard personally.
3. Declare your weakness! Boast about it. This often turns it into a strength and confuses the person who thinks you care about being exposed.
4. This, with the help of your friends and supporters plus your determination to live and succeed in your vocation will stave off the wolves and keep you going.

Here’s a bonus: when the wolf finally comes out and attacks you, most witnesses of that ugly event see that person for who he or she really is… a predator.