A Giant Slayer Named Charles

Posted on Jul 31, 2011 in Theology | 2 comments

While many of you studied the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) in Sunday school, I did not really appreciate this story until I was in my early thirties and watched the Veggie Tales version called “Dave and the Giant Pickle.” So here is a quick refresher:

Israel was at war with the Philistines.   The Philistines had a champion named Goliath who was very large, some would even say he was a giant.

David was a very young man who offered to fight Goliath.  Saul replied to David, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth…The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

So Saul dressed David in a coat of armor and put a bronze helmet on his head and fastened his sword on him.

David tried walking around in Saul’s armor but he found it difficult.  He said “I cannot go in these, because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.

Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.

I love this  story of a young man who used what he had to do what God called him to do.  For me this story really stresses the importance of allowing God’s strength to transform our weakness.

I would like you to meet my friend Charles.  Charles is a contemporary David and one of the many giant slayers that I have the privilege of working with.

Charles is a recovering addict and spent 33 years as a slave to his addiction.   Many who meet Charles only see the bad in his story.  They see his history of addiction as a sign of weakness and a flaw in his character.

When David insisted on fighting Goliath, Saul tried to make him into the kind of warrior that the world would expect – one with armor and a sword.

Similarly, we do the same thing to folks like Charles. We tell them join the church and get involved in church life, we tell them to go get a degree, and  memorize the word of God.  Once they have done all of these things we will judge them fit for God’s Army.

But like David, Charles would never feel comfortable tying to be someone he is not.  One of Charles’s favorite lines is “I just do me.”

Charles’  journey has been his education, the AA Big Book his guide to slaying the giant of addiction.  His sponsor taught him to pray and his network at AA is his support systems.   Charles knows that the God of his understanding will never let him down.

As a minister working in the inner city using asset-based community development principals, my job is to remind the Giant Slayers like Charles that they have slain their own lions and tigers and that they possess their own tried and true weapons.  Most importantly that there is a place for them in God’s army.

While some might look at the Charles’s of the world as addicts and ex-offenders with little to offer, this biblical story reminds us not to be deceived by what we see.

Charles faces his own Goliath of addiction every day and after five years still stands as the victor.  However, Charles takes seriously the 12^th step of AA, which is to reach out to other sick and suffering addicts and alcoholics.    He gives out is cell phone to anyone and everyone he meets.  He invites people to call him any time day or night and he has been the lifeline to sobriety to dozens of addicts over the past three years.

When God gave Embrace a house, Charles had a vision of a recovery house to provide permanent affordable housing to those seeking to live a clean and sober life.  He now has two houses and has provided affordable housing to dozen’s of men over the past three years.

The fact that there is no Healing Place for women in the city of Richmond has not stopped Charles from reaching into his own pocket or reaching out to his support network to come up with the money to send dozens of women to Kentucky for treatment.

Charles recognized that what others saw as weaknesses, his own personal struggles with addiction, was really his greatest strength.  Charles can do what no other social worker or councilor can do, he can go into places no other outreach worker could go and he has the only credentials his target population cares about….years of sobriety.

This formerly homeless, addict, ex-offender is just one of the “weak, unqualified, under-resourced giant slayers” that I have the privilege of working alongside.

Everyday I am reminded of my own strength by watching my friends work for God from places of extreme poverty and weakness.  I think the Apostle Paul got this concept of finding strength in our weakness better than anyone.  In  1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Paul writes

 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him.

I have always loved this passage because it helps me make sense of my own story.  I grew up unchurched in a very small town in rural central Texas in the heart of the Bible belt.  I did not step foot in a church until I was in my late 20’s.  I never owned a Bible, did not know the New Testament from the Old Testament.  I never took communion or spoke the words of any creed.

I remember my third grade teacher had us go around the room and tell her where we went to church.  I was terrified of people knowing we did not go to church, so I lied.  I told her I went to the Methodist Baptist Fellowship Chruch in a nearby town.  I was certain I was going to hell for that little lie.

That was one of the most traumatic moments of my childhood.  But God uses all things for good.  I know what it feels like to be on the outside of the church walls – to feel judged. Of course I now understand things from a very different perspective but at the time, it felt like judgement.  I think it was this experience of growing up outside the church that has led me to want to reach out to those who would never step foot in a church.

So, I am living proof that God chooses the foolish things of this world.  God called me into the church in my late 20′s, into seminary in my late 30′s and ultimately into the inner city of Richmond – me a little un-churched girl from a rural community in Texas.  God really does work in mysterious ways.

When I started working in the inner city, I felt very small and unqualified and I am sure my friends and family thought I had lost my mind.  Many people told me I was crazy to go into the neighborhoods God was calling me into.  But like David, I knew it was not about me and that I was not really alone.

While Charles is called to help people slay the giant of addiction, God has called me to into a different role.  My dream has always been to support and encourage giant slayers like Charles.

Many of you have a story like Charles’s story.  You have come through something unbelievable and arrived on the other side with a call on your life to help others overcome the same trial.  You are called to be a giant slayer.

Others of you are like me.  What gets you really pumped up is helping someone like Charles live their dream.  You are called to be a dream-releaser.

I know I would not be who I am today without  Charles Fitzgerald in my life and I think Charles would say the same thing.

David needed Saul to release him into battle and Saul need David to defeat Goliath.  No matter who you are, you have a role to play in ushering in God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

I hope every time you feel weak, small, un-qualified, too young, too old, too poor, too busy – you will think of that little boy David and that old addict Charles and that little un-churched country girl Wendy and that you will smile, experience the strength of God that overcomes all our weakness, and go out into the world totally pumped up!

This post is an edited version of a sermon I preached at Northminster Church in Richmond, Va.  During my sermon, Charles delivered a wonderful testimony which does not appear here.  However, I encourage you to check out this video of Charles which is on the Embrace Richmond You Tube Channel.